Attack on Curses
by bigger-on-the-inside-fandoms
Summary: As in magic, not swearing. When Eren Jaeger and his friends Armin and Mikasa start the year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they find that magic is a lot harder than they originally thought. Some of their new friends are vanishing mysteriously; at first Eren thinks it's nothing, but when Reiner lies about where he's going, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa get suspicious.
1. Goodbye

Eren Jaeger waited outside King's Cross Station one rainy September morning for his friends Armin and Mikasa. His parents stood next to him, his father, who worked in the Department of mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, was carrying a trunk almost as big as Eren, and his mother, a nurse at St. Mungo's Hospital, carried an angry-looking long-eared owl in a cage. Eren himself was carrying a bulging lunch bag, as well as several textbooks about charms, transfiguration, and potions. He had his potions book open on top of the pile, but the pages were getting wet from the rain, so he closed it. A gray car to match the gray sky pulled up next to them. When it stopped, an Asian girl got out and dragged her trunk out of the back.

"Mikasa!" called Eren, dropping his potions book in a puddle. He swore under his breath. His mother bent down and picked it up, brushing some of the water off.

"Eren, you should be more careful," she reprimanded.

"Sorry," mumbled Eren.

"I'm going to have to leave earlier than I expected for that investigation at work," said Eren's father. "I'm going to have to leave as soon as we get home."

"You're going to make me get used to staying home on my own, now?" asked Eren's mother jokingly.

"Eren wants to be an auror," said Mikasa, breaking into the conversation.

"Eren! Are you sure about this?!" demanded his mother.

"Mikasa! What did I tell you about interrupting?" scolded her mother.

"Sorry, Mom," said Mikasa.

"Yes…" said Eren to his mother.

"Do you know how many people die doing this?" she insisted.

"Yes… I want to find out why wizards shun muggles," explained Eren.

"Tell him that he can't!" Eren's mother ordered Eren's father.

"I cannot tell him to go against his nature," said Eren's father. "I just got a memo from work. I need to go now. Eren, when I get back, I'll show you something my department just invented." He let go of the trunk and disapparated.

Eren and his mother waved. Mikasa and her parents joined them outside the train station to wait for Armin.

A minute or so later, Armin and his grandfather walked out of a nearby restroom, presumably having just apparated inside. Armin smiled at Eren and Mikasa and they met him on the way to the divider between Platform nine and Platform ten. They ran straight through the wall.

A chattering crowd met them on the other side. Owls hooted, cats meowed and hissed, and Eren was sure he could hear a few toads croaking, too. Some people were already in their Hogwarts robes, loading trunks onto the train.

"Where do you want to sit?" Eren hadn't heard his mother coming up behind him. He shrugged.

Mikasa pushed through the crowd towards the back of the train, and Eren and Armin followed her, their parents trailing behind. She found an empty compartment and deposited her luggage under the seat. Eren and Armin followed her, adding their luggage to hers. Their parents handed in the trunks, and they put them under the seat before hugging and saying goodbye until Christmas.

At 11:00, they were settled into their seat. The train jolted and started pulling away. Eren jumped up from his seat and leaned out the window to wave to his mother as she slid out of sight.


	2. The Train

_Note: I changed Eren's goal to be find out why wizards shun muggles_

Eren flopped back into his seat, suddenly realizing how much he was going to miss his mother. He had been at sleepovers before, but never for more than one night. He could deal with being away from his father, as he often went away for work.

"Eren, I miss my parents, too," said Mikasa, perfectly reading his expression.

Eren ignored her.

"When my parents died… remember how I wouldn't leave my room for a week?" put in Armin. "I had my grandfather, but he wasn't the same as my parents, you know? It wasn't until a year later that I started trying to figure out what the thing my dad left me was. In the end, Mikasa figured it out. It may seem bad now, but it gets better. Also it could be much worse. I know I'm going to miss my grandfather, but he's going to be waiting for me at Christmas."

Before Eren could look up at Armin, someone knocked on the door to their compartment.

A tall, smirking boy with hair lighter on top than on the bottom slid the door open and looked down at Eren.

"Homesick already?" he asked.

"Jean, he's a first year, too. It's probably his first time away from home. Try to be nice," said a boy with a dark complexion and freckles. "I'm Marco Bodt, by the way. That's Jean Kirschstein. He can be mean sometimes, but once you get to know him, he's a good person."

Eren wasn't sure he believed Marco, and, looking at Armin and Mikasa's faces, he wasn't sure they believed him either.

"Why are you here?" asked Armin.

"Thought I'd say hi," said Jean.

"If you wanted to say hi, you should have just said it," Armin pointed out.

"Well obviously the babies in here are feeling antisocial," said Jean, turning around and dragging Marco out by his arm. "Marco, let's go."

Marco shrugged at them and went with it. "Sorry," he mouthed.

Soon after Jean and Marco left, a woman pulled up with a trolley full of sweets. "Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked.

Mikasa got up and bought a little of everything for herself and Eren, who was still homesick and angry at Jean. Armin got some for himself.

"Eren, at least have something," pleaded Mikasa after several minutes of Eren staring miserably at the pile of candy. "I don't want to have to eat all this on my own."

"Eren, it'll make you feel better. Mikasa, did you see that girl across the aisle from us who bought more than the two of us combined after the other person in her compartment bought some?" said Armin.

"Yeah, I don't think she'll be able to eat it all," replied Mikasa.

Eren reached forward and got himself a chocolate frog while Mikasa and Armin were distracted. Mikasa caught his eye, but didn't say anything. He gave the card to Armin, who had a collection.

"How about we take a walk and meet some people?" asked Armin once they had eaten a good amount of the candy.

"Sure," Eren wasn't very enthusiastic, but he thought it could take his mind off his mom.

The three of them got up and knocked on the door across the aisle. It was whipped open so fast it bounced back. A girl with brown hair in a ponytail was bouncing up and down while shoving a whole pumpkin pasty into her mouth.

"…Hi," said Mikasa.

"Hi," said the laughing boy behind her.

Eren and Armin waved hesitantly.

The energetic girl swallowed. "Hello," she said.

"We're Mikasa, Eren, and Armin," said Mikasa. "Is this year your first, too?"

"Yeah. I'm Connie, and that's Sasha," said the boy.

Sasha waved, and then laughed at something that was funny only to her.

"Sasha, how did you eat all that candy without puking?" asked Connie.

Sasha laughed harder. Connie started, too.

Mikasa slid the door shut on them to leave them to their sugar high. "Maybe we should try somewhere else…"

They walked down the hall a little ways and found a group of older students playing exploding snap in overcrowded compartment. They watched for a little while, but it was hard to see, so they moved on. A few compartments down were several teenagers already in their Hogwarts robes cleaning their compartment. The one cleaning the door was shorter than Eren, although he looked like he was either a sixth year or a seventh year. He had black hair hanging around his head, bringing out his "not-a-single-shit-given" eyes. He glared at them like they were the dirt he was trying to remove from the glass door. Eren glared back until Mikasa pulled him out of view.

"Maybe we should find people we're more likely to have classes with," suggested Armin.

They turned around. There seemed to be more first-years near where they had been sitting. On the way past the cleaning teenagers, Eren stuck his tongue out at the boy cleaning the glass. He flicked him off without even changing expression.

By their end of the train, they found a compartment with three people about their age talking about what classes they were looking forward to.

"Hi," said Armin, opening the door.

The three of them looked up.

"Hi," said a blond boy who already seemed to have muscles even though he was obviously a first year. "I'm Reiner, and these are Annie and Bertholdt."

Annie and Bertholdt waved, shy now that they had company.

Armin, Eren, and Mikasa introduced themselves.

"What classes are you looking forward to?" asked Reiner.

Armin and Mikasa shrugged.

"Defense against the Dark Arts," said Eren enthusiastically.

"Really?" said Reiner. "Me too!"

They had a conversation going, and soon Annie and Bertholdt joined in.


	3. The Sorting

After going back to their compartment, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa put their new robes on and left the train when it stopped. They followed Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt to the platform and got out to hear a voice calling "first years! First years, come with me!"

They followed the voice, and found someone carrying a torch. Maybe it was just the light, but from where Eren was standing, he couldn't tell if the person was male or female.

"I'm Professor Hanji Zoe," said Professor Hanji Zoe. They took a quick head count, and, deciding that this was everyone, walked towards something that glinted under the darkening sky. As they got closer, Eren found it was a lake. A small fleet of rowboats were lined up by the shore.

"No more than four to a boat," said Professor Hanji Zoe, climbing into the biggest boat.

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin got into a boat with a boy who called himself Thomas Wagner, and their boat started gliding of its own accord across the deep, black lake.

Several minutes later, the boats pulled up onto a gravel shore under the castle. Everyone clambered out, although Eren couldn't help noticing that Mikasa was the most graceful.

"This is Professor Mike Zacharius," said Professor Hanji Zoe, gesturing to a blond man with a little bit of a moustache and beard.

Professor Mike Zacharius didn't smile. He inhaled deeply through his nose and said "First years never wear deodorant. They really need to start."

Flushed faces and muttering all around.

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now," he decided. "Come with me."

They followed him into a hall so huge it could have fit Eren's house, Armin's, and Mikasa's, with room to spare. The ceiling looked exactly like the night sky, with brilliant stars scattered across it like someone had taken a handful of glitter and thrown it in the air, only for it to have gotten stuck up there. Four tables stretched out from the wall they had come through into the hall. Faces like Halloween masks stared at them as they followed Professor Mike Zacharius down the middle to a small stool with a hat on top. The hat was old and tattered, like someone had tried to use it as a shield in a sword fight and then thrown it into the lake. Before Eren knew what to think, a hole near the brim of the hat opened up, and the hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see.

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause when the hat finished its song. Professor Mike Zacharius stepped forward with a long scroll.

"When I call your name, step forward and try on the hat," he instructed. "Ackerman, Mikasa."

Mikasa stepped forward, trying to look less nervous than she was. She sat down on the stool, and as the hat touched her head, it screamed "GRYFFINDOR!" Mikasa, along with all of the other first years, jumped. The table to the left cheered and Mikasa got up to sit down with them.

"Arlert, Armin."

Armin stepped forward and nervously put on the hat. He sat there for close to a minute with it on his head, and by his expression, he looked like he was having an argument. Finally, the hat screamed "RAVENCLAW!" and Armin went over to join the table next to Mikasa's.

Soon after, Marco and Sasha became Hufflepuffs and Reiner became a Gryffindor. A little while later, after a girl named Ymir was sorted into Slytherin; Professor Mike Zacharius called "Jaeger, Eren."

Eren stepped forward; feeling like someone had flipped his stomach without him noticing. He sat down on the stool and put on the hat.

"I see courage here, no doubt about it! I also see quite a lot of ambition, as well as tenacity, you'd do quite well in Slytherin," said the hat inside his head.

"No. I don't want to be in Slytherin," thought Eren as loudly as he could. "Slytherin has produced more dark wizards than any other house."

"Slytherin has also produced plenty of good wizards," put in the hat.

"I don't want to be in Slytherin," Eren repeated.

"If you insist… If you're sure… You'd be best off in GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled the last word; it seemed louder than it had from standing in line. Eren stood up and joined Mikasa at her table. Soon after, they were joined by a small, blonde girl with big blue eyes. Finally, Zeramuski, Mylius was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Welcome," said the man at the head of the staff table. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now, before we start our feast, we just need to go over a few rules. The forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. Also, no magic is to be performed in the hallways between classes. On a lighter note, quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing should contact their house quidditch captain. Now, without further ado, let the feast begin!"

Piles and piles of food appeared on all the tables across the room. Eren and Mikasa shoveled portions of everything onto their plates and went back for seconds of the things they liked best. Reiner asked a red-haired girl with a prefect badge what it was like living at Hogwarts, and she started telling him about everything she was doing this year. She was preparing for her NEWTs next year, and she was playing quidditch on the Gryffindor team with some of the other older students. When she pointed out the quidditch captain, Levi Ackerman, Eren realized she was one of the teenagers who had been cleaning the compartment.

After an enormous dessert, the headmaster, who Eren had learned was Professor Erwin Smith, stood up.

"Now that I see we've all finished our food, it's time to go to bed! I'm sure you're all tired after a long day of traveling, so try to get a good night's sleep! Don't stay up too late, we have classes tomorrow!"

The prefect Reiner had been talking to, Petra, led the way out of the Great Hall and up so many spiral staircases Eren began to get dizzy. Finally, she stopped at a portrait of a fat woman in a pink dress.

"Password?" requested the lady in pink.

"Simba," said Petra.

The portrait swung open, revealing a doorway leading to a room with a roaring fire and plenty of cushioned couches.

"Boys up that staircase," said Petra, pointing. "Girls, follow me."

Eren and Reiner followed the current of boys marching up the staircase to their dormitory and fell into bed without even bothering to get pajamas.


	4. Transfiguration

Sitting next to Mikasa, facing Armin at the Ravenclaw table, Eren read through his schedule.

"I have transfiguration first at 9:00, then double potions at 10," said Armin, reading through his own schedule.

"Eren and I have the same classes," said Mikasa, comparing her schedule to Eren's.

"We have defense against the dark arts after lunch," Eren noted, glancing over his shoulder at Reiner, who was sitting across the table from him.

"We should get going if we want to get to class on time," said Reiner, looking at the clock. "I have no idea where to go, and unless we find an older student to show us the way, we'll get hopelessly lost."

The four of them got up and headed out the doorway away from the Great Hall, followed by Krista, the blond girl, and Mylius, as well as several other Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first years.

"It's really a shame they didn't give us maps with our schedules," complained Mylius.

"We could make our own during our breaks," suggested Armin.

After realizing they had been walking in circles for nearly fifteen minutes, Armin decided that might not be as easy as he originally thought. The staircases moved, as well as the subjects in the pictures, and the suits of armor.

"Need help?" asked a Hufflepuff a few years older than them.

"Yes please," said Krista. "We're looking for the transfiguration classroom."

"Follow me," said the Hufflepuff. Soon, they had picked up what could only be their entire class. "Right through here," said the Hufflepuff, running off to a different class.

They filed through the door and found seats with a minute to spare. As they scrambled to pull out their books, their teacher walked in. He was a short man with a blond braid down his back and he wore scarlet robes.

"As you all know, I am Professor Edward Elric. Now I need to take attendance, and then we can begin!" he pulled out a scroll about half the length of Professor Zacharius's last night and started calling names. "Now before we start, transfiguration has deep roots in the ancient art of alchemy. Many of those alchemists lost their lives in the process of making some of the spells you will learn in this very classroom, thus, fooling around during class will not be tolerated."

They started by learning how to turn a match into a needle. Eren, along with most of the rest of the class, was getting frustrated over his match, which was staying stubbornly wooden. Armin and Mikasa on the other hand, only had to try a few times to get their matches to be needles. Professor Elric was giving them a steady stream of matches now, and they were both mostly getting it on the first try.

Gritting his teeth, Eren spat out the incantation and wind milled his wand arm, in a last desperate attempt to turn his match before the end of class.

Professor Elric came over and told him that he should try to be calmer about it because it worked better when you were relatively calm. Soon after, the bell rang and they had to find the dungeons for potions while Armin and the other Ravenclaws went to history of magic.


	5. The Flying Lesson

Their first flying lesson was on Thursday morning at ten o'clock. The previous night they'd had astronomy on the tallest tower at midnight to study the stars, and Eren could tell he wasn't the only one who was overtired.

All the first years filed out into the quidditch pitch five minutes early; they were at the point where they could find their way most of the time, but they gave extra time just in case. Some of the girls started worrying about people being able to see under their robes, but Mikasa pointed out that they had underwear on, so it wasn't that big a deal.

Their teacher came out levitating what looked like the entire supply of the broom shed behind her. She was somewhat short, about the same height as Eren, and her light brown hair was cut to her chin. When she introduced herself, she had one of those weird names that Eren immediately forgot. Each of the brooms separated and lined themselves up in two rows.

"Find a broom and stand next to it," instructed their flying teacher.

Eren found a broom between Armin and Mikasa. When everyone was in position (Connie and Jean were fighting over the shiny one), the teacher told them to put their arm out and say "up!"

Eren held out his arm and said "up!" with everyone else. His broom rolled over like it was trying to get out of bed too early, and otherwise didn't budge. Mikasa's on the other hand sprung right up to her hand. Armin's broom, as well as most everyone else's, went into their hands at the second attempt. Several attempts later, Eren was the last with his broom on the ground, and everyone was waiting for him. The instructor came over and got his broom up for him. He felt color rising in his cheeks as the whole class looked at him.

They were instructed on how to mount their brooms, and finally how they were going to rise up a few feet, then come back down to the ground.

Eren kicked off of the ground as hard as he could when his name was called. He rose up, and, hoping to outdo Mikasa, tried to do an extra circle. Instead, his broom flipped over underneath him, slamming his head into the hard turf ground. He rolled off the broom, which flew away of its own accord into the castle.

"Are you OK?" questioned several people at once. Eren groaned and rubbed his head. It throbbed where it had hit the ground, but it could be worse. The teacher rushed over and ordered the class to stay put while she took Eren to the hospital wing for a cure for what was probably a concussion.

"I want to try again," insisted Eren.

"After you get your head checked up."

Eren opened his mouth, but shut it because he didn't know what else to say. He was marched into the castle, where he found his runaway broom, and brought to the hospital wing. His concussion was repaired in a matter of minutes with a spell used by the nurse, although he wasn't allowed to leave until lunch.


	6. Thomas Wagner's Broom

On their next flying lesson, the following week, Eren was brought to the side for private instruction. He had gotten the same broom as last time; he could tell by the splinters in the handle which dug into his hands as he held on to it. The broom also wouldn't stay upright no matter how many times he tried to stay on it. As he gave an attempt he hoped would finally end well, he noticed the rest of class had stopped to watch him. He saw Armin and Mikasa's faces in the front, clearly praying that he would be able to balance this time.

He had asked Jean, who was pretty good at flying to give him a few tips the night before, but Jean had said it was all natural talent. Armin had told him to keep all his weight over his center – his hips – and to keep his core tight.

Eren thought about what Armin had told him as he pushed off the ground. Again, his broom tipped and slammed his head into the ground. He groaned, rubbing his head, but got up anyway. "One more time."

"Thomas Wagner," said the flying teacher – Eren still didn't remember her name – to Thomas, a nervous boy who Eren didn't talk to very much even though they were in the same dormitory. "Trade brooms with Eren."

Thomas handed his broom to Eren, who did the same. Eren mounted Thomas' broom and pushed off from the ground. He looped around in lazy circles, surprised at the ease with which this broom handled.

After that, Eren joined the rest of the class learning how to turn. He and Thomas shared brooms, taking turns doing circles and giving each other advice on how to get better. Thomas was a decent flyer, and after the last broom, Eren felt that flying was fairly easy.

He told Jean this on the way back, bragging that he had lasted a whole second on the tipping broomstick, something Jean probably couldn't do.

"What is it Eren?!" demanded Jean, exasperated with the boy next to him.

"Obviously I'm the better flyer, and you just don't want to admit it," put in Eren.

"Flying doesn't even matter where I'm going," said Jean importantly. "I'm going to be Minister for Magic."

"No you're not. I'm going to be an auror and I'm going to find out why muggles are shunned and I'm going to kill dark wizards and put them in Azkaban."

"That's stupid you wouldn't last a day out there," Jean turned and put his nose in the air.

Eren grabbed him by the collar and dragged him around to punch him in the face (neither of them knew enough spells to have an actual duel). Jean dragged Eren close to his face, too close for a punch to do much.

Eren and Jean heard footsteps coming up behind them. They dropped each other's collars and glared at the other.

"What's all this commotion?" asked Professor Keith Shadis (he taught charms).

"Sasha just farted," said Mikasa, putting her hand up.

Sasha reddened, and opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. Professor Shadis, relieved, walked away.


	7. Christmas

Several months later, it was getting cold, yet snow was refusing to fall. Mid-terms were coming up next week, and then they would go home for the Christmas holidays. It was only now that Eren realized how much he would miss the few friends he had made at his first term at Hogwarts. The boys in Eren's dormitory had stayed up on many nights talking, mostly about girls, but also about the random things that crossed their minds.

Reiner and Thomas both had had a crush on Krista since pretty much the first time they'd seen her, but Eren thought she seemed like a one-sided character, someone who put up an illusion to hide who she really was. He tried not to talk much during these conversations.

During one of their flying lessons, Levi had noticed Mikasa's flying and asked if she would be able to join his team. She refused, saying she'd rather wait until next year. Levi looked at her like she was crazy, but he nodded and didn't press.

At the platform after the long train ride home, Armin looked like he was about to start giving hugs all around, but Reiner stopped him. He held out his hand for a manly handshake and Armin changed course. Eren struggled to blink back tears – he would miss them during these few weeks, but he knew he would see them again soon. He, Armin, and Mikasa walked out the barrier into the muggle world.

* * *

Three days before Christmas, Eren and his father walked the mile to Mikasa's house so Eren and Mikasa could spend time together (Eren's father didn't want him going alone). Armin would show up a little later.

Eren reached up to knock on Mikasa's front door. Nobody answered. Eren eased the door open.

"Hello?" he called down the empty hall. He stepped onto the doormat covered in winter shoes – obviously nobody had gone out. Eren and his father crept down the hallway, wary as to what may have happened. As Eren was looking into one of the rooms to the side, he heard his father take a sharp breath. A hand clapped over his eyes.

"What is it, Dad?" he asked.

"Eren, whatever you do. Don't. Look," Eren tried to wriggle out of his father's grasp, but failed.

"What's going on?" He managed to get free.

"Holy mother of fucking fucked up shit," Eren strung several commonly used curse words together. His father looked at him, taken aback and shocked into not thinking about the bodies lying on the floor.

The bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman lay on the floor, throats cut out, blood still seeping into the carpet. Mikasa's parents were dead.

"Where's Mikasa?" asked Eren.

"I – I don't know," said his father. "Stay here. This looks like a muggle crime, so I'm going to call the muggle police. Now what is their number…? Where is there a phone in here…?"

While his father was preoccupied, Eren picked up the carving knife from the floor and wiped the blood off it. Maybe if he went to the poor section of town, people would know where she was.

In the poor section of town, Eren received directions to a grungy bar from a toothless man with a swear word tattooed on his arm.

The bar was dirty, and half of the lights on the sign were out, but it looked like it would be somewhat popular with the locals later in the day. Hopeful the toothless man had been right about where they were talking Mikasa (why would they take her to a bar?), Eren charged through the door.

He directed his course to the nearest man, a man laughing as the other kicked the helpless Mikasa on the floor. Eren thrust the knife into his back, feeling it cut the spinal cord in two. The man gargled, interrupting his laughter, and collapsed to the floor, dead. The other two men and Mikasa turned to look at Eren, shaking and gripping the knife in both hands. He stabbed the second man in the throat before anyone could do anything, and then cut Mikasa's wrists and ankles. As he was about to help her up, the last man grabbed him from behind, causing him to drop the knife. The man's hands began to close around Eren's throat.

"Fight," he choked out, pleadingly, to Mikasa. "If you don't fight, you can't win. If you fight, you can win. Fight!"

Mikasa looked from Eren to the man to the knife lying on the floor and back again.

"Ffff…" it was all Eren could manage.

Mikasa picked up the knife and stabbed the man in the stomach around Eren. She twisted the knife, and the man screamed in agony and collapsed, dropping Eren.

The three dead men lay on the ground as Eren's father swung the door open to the bar. Eren and Mikasa looked up at him, expecting to be in trouble, but Mr. Jaeger pulled them into a hug and whispered "I thought you were both dead."

Eren buried his head into his father's shoulder. "Don't worry. I saved Mikasa."

"Don't do that again. Next time, wait for me or your mother, and we'll sort it out."

"But if I had waited, Mikasa would've been gone," protested Eren.

"You could have easily been gone, too." They looked at the shivering Mikasa next to them.

"Are you cold?" asked Eren.

Mikasa nodded.

Eren took off his scarf and wrapped it around Mikasa's head and neck. "Is that better?"

Mikasa nodded again.

"Mikasa, do you have any other family nearby?" asked Dr. Jaeger.

Mikasa shook her head.

"You can stay with us, then."


	8. Mikasa

Mikasa hadn't talked much since the incident. She would watch Eren and Armin read books about the far reaches of the world, they told her she could join them if she wanted to, but she would just keep watching. Eren's family had officially adopted her now. They gave her the option of skipping a year of school so she could mourn, but she didn't want to.

On the train, sitting quietly with Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie. Eren and Armin had told them what had happened, and they gave their condolences with a sincere understanding as if they had lost someone close to them, too.

As soon as they got to the castle, Professor Smith took Mikasa aside to tell her she was welcome to leave at any time if she felt she wasn't ready for school yet. She nodded, but didn't say anything. Even people like Levi were being nice to her. Eren felt kind of jealous, but then he remembered her parents were dead and reprimanded himself.

Although Eren liked Mikasa, and felt bad for her, she wasn't very good company. Anyway, she said she wanted to be alone. He found himself spending ever more time with Reiner in the common room. It was only then that he realized how little he was there. When he asked Reiner answered that he was going to study in the library with Bertholdt. One time Eren came with him and Bertholdt didn't show up. Soon after, Eren would meet up with Armin in the library whenever Reiner said he was going there.

At first Armin said they should just let Reiner do whatever he was doing, but after a while, he agreed that they should try to figure it out for themselves.

Armin waited outside the portrait of the fat lady for Reiner to leave supposedly for the library. The portrait opened, and Reiner climbed out. Several seconds later, Eren followed. Armin pointed in the direction Reiner had gone, and they started on their way. Reiner led them down staircases all the way to ground level, where he met Annie and Bertholdt. The three of them slid out a door together, and, by the time Eren and Armin peered around the doorframe, they were gone.

Eren and Armin tried this several more times, but at every attempt, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were all gone by the time they got around the door. Eren asked Mikasa what she thought of it, and she followed them herself. She didn't get any more evidence, but it was the most alive she had acted since her parents died.

Soon after they started including her in what they were doing, her grades began to come back up. By Easter, she was back at the top of their grade.


	9. Through the Trapdoor

After the Easter holidays (Eren, Armin, and Mikasa had gone home again), they began noticing that Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were skipping classes. Armin asked his friend Marco to watch Bertholdt because they were both in Hufflepuff, and Mikasa asked Jean to watch Annie. Even with both Jean and Marco helping them, they still didn't find anything out about Reiner's, Bertholdt's, and Annie's disappearances.

Exams were quickly approaching, and Mikasa and Armin were slowly getting ever more insistent that Eren needed to study a lot if he wanted to go on to the second year next year. Armin suggested that maybe Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie just wanted some time for the three of them to spend together alone. Maybe it wasn't suspicious at all.

Exams weren't really as hard as Armin and Mikasa had made them out to be, Eren thought after his first day of tests. He'd just needed to remember the names of a few spells, a few famous wizards, and what the different herbs looked like and what potions they were used for. He hoped that it just hadn't seemed easy.

Their potions teacher had made friends with Eren, and he was often drunk when he wasn't supposed to be. Eren would tell him it would get him fired, but he didn't listen. He also insisted that his students call him "Hannes" rather than by his last name (which he refused to tell). Eren wasn't worried about his grades for potions, because Hannes usually gave him a perfect score no matter what he did.

The night exams were finally over – they still had the quidditch championship and the end of year feast to look forward to – Eren noticed Reiner slip out of his bed when he thought everyone else was asleep.

He called Mikasa's name up the stairs to the girls' dormitory until she got up to see what was going on (he had already tried climbing the stairs earlier in the year).

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Reiner's on the move," said Eren. "We need to get Armin."

They walked over to the Ravenclaw tower.

"I have holes in my top and bottom, my left and right, and in the middle. But I still hold water. What am I?" asked a statue of an eagle above the door to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Uhhh," Eren had no idea. Anything with that many holes couldn't possibly hold water. He imagined a fishbowl with that many holes.

Mikasa thought for a minute. "Is it… a sponge?" she wondered.

"Correct," said the eagle. The door below it opened to reveal a large room with lots of furniture of every shade of blue. Eren ran up the staircase that would be to the boys in Gryffindor, but it turned into a slide and he slid down.

"Wrong one," he muttered. He ran up the other one, and peered around cobalt-curtained four-poster beds until he found Armin sleeping with his face in a book about dragons on his pillow. Eren reached out and shook Armin's shoulder.

"Armin," he whispered. "Wake up."

Armin lifted his head heavily and peered through his eyelids at Eren.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"We have to follow Reiner," said Eren, realizing how futile this sounded now. Reiner was probably long gone by now.

"Eren…" Armin sounded exasperated. "Who let you in?"

"I know how to answer riddles!"

"Yeah, but who let you in?"

"…Mikasa."

"OK, just give me a sec."

Armin pulled on a bathrobe and slippers and picked up his wand from the bedside table. "I'm ready."

Eren and Armin met Mikasa in the common room and the three of them took the shortest route they knew to the spot where Reiner usually met Bertholdt and Annie.

Reiner and Annie stood in the shadows under a suit of armor, only visible because of their blond hair. Bertholdt obviously wasn't there yet.

Quiet footsteps pattered down the corridor as Bertholdt ran around the corner to Reiner and Annie.

"Sorry, Marco didn't want to let me leave," he said. "So do we have access to the brooms?"

Annie nodded.

The three of them left through the door Eren, Armin, and Mikasa had strategically placed themselves next to.

The three of them picked out brooms and walked over to the wamping willow nearby. Eren watched as the willow froze and each of them climbed into a hole in the ground underneath the roots.

"Why would they need brooms underground?" Mikasa wondered aloud.

"They probably don't want Filch seeing them flying away from the castle," said Armin. "The hole probably comes up somewhere."

The willow unfroze as they approached. As Eren tried to slide under the wildly swinging branches, Mikasa tackled him. The branch that was coming towards his face passed right over them.

"How did they get the tree to freeze?" asked Armin.

"I don't know, I didn't see," said Eren.

Mikasa shrugged, letting Eren up. She had still been in the broom shed when Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie had gone under the tree.

"Then we need to find a different way of getting around it," said Armin.

A branch flew out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Eren and Mikasa, lifting them into the air above the tree. Eren and Mikasa struggled, pounding the wood gripping them with their fists and trying the few spells they knew.

"Armin! Do something!" called Mikasa.

Armin muttered, pacing around below them.

"How do I kill a tree?" he asked them.

"I don't know – Fire! Light a fire!" answered Eren.

Armin muttered an incantation, and blue flames erupted from the end of his wand. The flames caught on the tree trunk, and the tree was forced to drop Eren and Mikasa to pat out the fire. While the tree was preoccupied, the three of them opened the trapdoor by the roots.

Through the trapdoor was a sloped tunnel that was too steep to climb down and quickly went out of sight. They would have to slide down.

"Who's going first?" asked Mikasa.

"I will," said Eren. He stepped forward and lowered himself into the hole. "See you at the bottom."

Cold air rushed by him as he sped down the steep tunnel. After close to a minute, he was spat out into a chamber with walls painted in runes.

"It's OK!" he called up the tunnel, hoping his friends could hear him.

Soon after, Mikasa landed next to him, followed by Armin.

"Those runes are Thorn and Haegl," said Armin when he got his bearings. "Pain and destruction. We need to get out of here."

"They're just runes," said Mikasa. "They won't really cause pain and destruction."

"If muggles draw them. If a wizard or witch draws them, they can have serious consequences. Whoever drew these didn't want anyone to live very long after they got out of here."

"Either way, we need to find Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie," said Eren, trying to get his friends' minds back on track.

They walked down the hall for a bit before it sloped upwards in a gentle slant.

"Why couldn't they have just made the tunnel flat?" Eren wondered aloud after probably a mile of upward-sloping tunnel.

"We probably went under the lake," said Armin. "See, the ceiling is moist and we're down far enough."

"If we hurry up, maybe we can catch them," suggested Mikasa.

The three of them broke into a jog. Soon, they came up to the end of the tunnel. They stepped out onto a field in the middle of nowhere and looked around. Lights flashed near the horizon the left.

"They're probably somewhere over there," Mikasa pointed to the lights.

So this is what they needed the brooms for. Eren, Armin, and Mikasa mounted their brooms and flew in the direction of the lights.


	10. Remember The Man With Two Faces

As they got closer to the lights, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa noticed huge figures looming above the buildings. Screams echoed from below.

"That's my grandfather's house!" shouted Armin, pointing at a house that one of the giants had obviously stepped through the roof of. "I'm going down to see if he's OK."

"We're coming too," said Mikasa.

The three of them flew down to Armin's front yard. They looked around.

"Grandpa!" called Armin. "Where is he?"

They searched the house, the yard, and nearby streets.

"You need to find Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie," said Armin. "I'll keep looking for Grandpa."

"Armin…" said Eren. "We can't just leave you here alone."

"It's OK. I'm not important anyway."

"Armin…" Mikasa put her hand on Armin's. "You're just as important as Eren is to me."

"And you've always been my best friend. Mikasa is my sister now, and you might as well be my brother."

"I only get in the way. If I'm supposed to live, I'll get out. But I have to find my grandfather before he's gone."

The ground shook. Eren turned his head and his eyes followed an enormous leg up until he was looking into the face of a giant. It was enormous, with a head too big for its body and very little skin, giving it a skeletal smile. It looked down at Armin, and its smile seemed to get wider. It reached down and picked him up.

"ARMIN!" screamed Eren, his voice high with terror.

Tears streamed down Armin's face as he accepted imminent death. The giant's mouth opened.

"WINGARDIUM LEVIOUSA!" screamed Mikasa from next to Eren. Armin was lifted out of the giant's skinless hand to the other side of the house.

"RUN!" yelled Eren, as he and Mikasa ran around Armin's street, hoping to meet Armin at the other side.

Armin wasn't there.

"Where is he?" asked Eren. "Armin!"

"Shhh! The giant might hear us!" whispered Mikasa. "I think that's how it found us last time."

"How are we supposed to find him, then?"

"Eren… I don't want this to be true… but… I think he might be dead. I – I think the giant ate him," tears streamed down Mikasa's face as she tried to keep it a determined mask of indifference. "We need to move on."

"No…" It couldn't be. Armin couldn't be dead. "Armin… No! You can't be dead! Don't be dead! Armin…" Eren collapsed in a pile of sobs.

"Eren. We need to fight back. Just like you told me I needed to. We need to find whoever is responsible for this and stop them from killing anyone else," Mikasa picked him up and gave him his broom. "We need to keep going."

They flew over buildings, hoping to see someone they knew – maybe Eren's family, their neighbors, or Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie.

"Dr. Jaeger's out on a trip for work," remembered Mikasa. "We should check on Mrs. Jaeger."

They altered their course to their house.

The entire house had collapsed under rubble from the street and neighboring houses. They landed their brooms in the front lawn and ran around the house, this time knowing better than to call out. At the side of the house, Eren looked down to see his mother lying next to the house, legs trapped under the rubble.

"Mom!" Eren exclaimed. He couldn't help himself. Mikasa clapped a hand over his mouth, but too late.

"Eren – Mikasa…" said Carla Jaeger, her eyes not focused on either of them, but on something behind them. "Leave me. Run away while you still can."

Eren and Mikasa turned around and looked up into the face of an approaching giant. The same one that had eaten Armin.

"We're going to get you out of here," said Eren, reaching for the rubble pinning his mother's legs to the ground.

"No," said Carla Jaeger as Eren and Mikasa strained to left the rubble. Mikasa tried magic, but there were too many pieces. "Run away while you still can. Live your lives. I won't be able to walk anyway."

"EREN! MIKASA!" called a voice from behind them. It was Hannes, the potions teacher. He pulled out his wand and stood in front of the approaching giant. He fired a few spells, but they didn't seem to do anything.

The unmistakable scent of urine reached Eren nostrils as Hannes ran over and scooped him and Mikasa up and ran away from the giant.

The way Eren was carried over Hannes' shoulder, he could watch as the giant lifted his mother up from the rubble. It tore her in half as she pounded her fists against the giant's enormous hand.

"NOOOOOO!" called Eren. "MOOOOOOOOM!" tears streamed down his face onto the ground behind them as Hannes ran down the road.

It wasn't long before Eren fainted.


	11. This Isn't Victory, It's Defeat

Eren woke up in a bed in the hospital wing. He blinked a few times, eyelids heavy with sleep; He didn't know how much.

Someone with blond hair stood next to his bed.

"Reiner…" he muttered.

The person came into focus. It was Professor Smith.

"Hello, Eren."

"What – what's going on? Mom…" Eren managed.

"Eren. I'm afraid to tell you your mother is dead. She was eaten by a giant. Hannes was unable to save her. I'm sorry," said Professor Smith.

Tears dripped down Eren's face onto his pillow. "Armin?"

"Your friend Armin, on the other hand, is alive and well. He was the one who sent for help after you got separated. He doesn't believe me, but in doing so, he saved your life as well as Mikasa's. I'll send your friends in to visit once I leave."

This cheered Eren up a bit, but it didn't make up for his mother's death. "I want to kill all the giants!" Eren's voice was hoarse with anger and grief, but his eyes sparked with determination.

"To the well organized mind, death is the next great adventure," said Professor Smith.

"What?" Eren was confused. Death was the end. No more. "But the giants…"

"The giants are advancing closer and closer to human land, both muggle and wizard, as we speak. They haven't come this close in over a hundred years. Maybe you will be the one to finally stop them," Professor Smith said the last bit like he didn't believe it. "Do you have any other questions?"

Eren shook his head.

"Then I'll send in your friends; they've been yearning to see you for the past 24 hours. The end of year banquet is tonight; you're welcome to come if you like."

As Professor Smith walked out the door, Armin and Mikasa hurtled through it, nearly knocking him over. They both threw themselves on top of Eren.

"Ow…" he hugged them back. "How long was I out?"

"Just a couple days," said Reiner from behind Mikasa.

"You didn't miss anything," said Thomas from behind Armin.

Mikasa and Armin let go of Eren.

"I heard you were the one who saved me and Mikasa back there," said Eren to Armin.

Armin reddened. "I didn't do anything. I just found an owl and wrote a note and sent it to Hogwarts."

"How did you get away?"

"I ran. Like you told me to. I ran as fast as I could until I was so tired I could barely walk. Then I saw an owl sitting on someone's garden fence and picked it up and wrote a note inside."

"Reiner, why were you there?" asked Eren.

"I wasn't there," said Reiner, a little too quickly. "You must have been seeing things."

"What about you, Bertholdt, Annie?"

They shook their heads.

At the feast, the Great Hall was hung in green and silver banners.

Professor Erwin Smith stood up from his seat at the head of the staff table.

"And here ends another year at Hogwarts. It seems Slytherin has won the house cup again, even with Gryffindor's victory in the quidditch pitch yesterday. But before it's too late, I'd like to add a few last minute house points.

"To Mikasa Ackerman, for her courage and quick-thinking – without which several students wouldn't be here – 100 points to Gryffindor.

"To Eren Jaeger, for his refusal to leave his friend, even in the face of grave danger, 50 points to Gryffindor. Courage and loyalty are attributes of a true Gryffindor.

"To Armin Arlert, for knowing when to call for help, and, in doing so, saving many more people than just his friends. 150 points to Ravenclaw."

The crowd cheered, happy to hear that Slytherin had been defeated at the last minute. Eren looked over to see Jean staring glumly down at his empty plate.

"This makes Gryffindor five points ahead of Slytherin. I think this calls for a change of decoration!" he waved his wand. The green and sliver banners changed to gold and scarlet.

Food appeared on their plates. People Eren didn't even know were congratulating his and Mikasa on their last-minute house points. He went to bed that night very full and happy.

In the morning, he threw a few things in his trunk and packed it up. Professor Smith had set Eren, Armin, and Mikasa up in an orphanage in London to spend their summers until they graduated. The place didn't look so bad, but they would have to hide their magic books and study at night. Professor Smith said that in August, he would send someone to take them to Diagon Alley.

As he got off the train, and said his goodbyes to all his friends, he noticed a man in a suit waiting for them next to a black car that looked like it could use a few repairs.

"Are you Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, and Eren Jaeger?" he asked, not unfriendly, but somehow menacing.

They nodded. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as it seemed.


	12. Diagon Alley

The orphanage hadn't been as bad as Eren thought it could have been. A lot of it was like Hogwarts, but there were no classes and they had to do chores (the place didn't get enough funding to hire maids). The food was mediocre, and he had Armin and Mikasa to spend time with.

It was August now, and Eren, Armin, and Mikasa sat in the waiting room for someone to take them to Diagon Alley. They had finished their homework for the summer last week, and the euphoria of no more school work was only just starting to wear off. Armin was looking forward to going to Flourish and Blotts to find more books that he could read during free time while telling everyone he had a thing for fantasy. Eren was eager to learn new ways of fighting dark wizards and giants Even Mikasa was looking forward to a break from their usual mundane life.

At exactly 11:30 AM, Professor Hanji Zoe came in the door.

"I'm here to take Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Jaeger, and Armin Arlert to get the supplies they need for their next year at school," they said. Eren still didn't know if they were a man or a woman, and he was too embarrassed to ask.

Professor Zoe signed a form and Eren, Armin, and Mikasa got up to follow them out the door.

"How was your summer?" asked Professor Zoe, trying to start a conversation.

"Good," said Mikasa automatically.

"Good!" said Professor Zoe enthusiastically. "Did you make any new friends?"

"Not really," said Eren as they got on a bus.

They got off the bus several stops later and walked the remaining block to the Leaky Cauldron, where they ate lunch before going shopping for school supplies and uniforms.

"Do you mind if I get a broom? I want to play quidditch this year," said Eren once they had gotten everything else they needed.

"I'll join you," said Mikasa.

"Me too," said Armin.

"I don't need you guys to play with me; I can take care of myself," Eren pointed out.

"But we want to play quidditch, too," said Armin like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Professor Zoe took them to Quality Quidditch Supplies and let them each pick out a broom that wasn't top-of-the-line, but was still a decent model.

That night Eren dreamed he was flying over Hogwarts and there was a river on the grounds. When he flew down to investigate, it was somehow a giant snake slithering to the bottom of the lake.

When he woke up shaking, he couldn't remember what he had been dreaming about.


	13. Muggle-borns

At King's Cross, Eren met up with Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie, as well as Jean, Marco, Ymir, and Krista. Soon, Sasha and Connie joined them.

They had to split into separate compartments; Ymir, Krista, Sasha, Connie, Jean, and Marco in one, and Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie in the other.

"Where's Thomas?" asked Eren after a few minutes of arguing over seats.

"I thought he was in the other compartment," said Annie.

"I didn't see him," said Reiner.

"Is he still on the platform?" Armin wondered aloud, opening the window next to his seat. They all leaned out best they could.

Peering through a gap he made between Mikasa's and Armin's hair, Eren could see his friend saying a hurried goodbye to his parents.

"Thomas!" called Mikasa from the window.

Thomas looked up and saw them calling his name. He smiled and waved.

The train gave a last whistle, and began to slowly start moving.

"Hurry!" called Bertholdt from the top of the window.

Reiner and Bertholdt scrambled to help him get his luggage on the train. Knowing that he would just block Thomas off the train if he helped, Eren watched from the hallway as his three friends hauled the heavy trunk to their compartment.

Thomas squeezed into a seat between Eren and Armin.

"Sorry," he said. "My parents got caught up in traffic on our way here."

That's right. Thomas was muggle-born. Eren hadn't really thought about it much, after all, Mikasa was muggle-born, and she was better at magic than anyone in their year. In the back of his mind, he knew it mattered to some people, but the fact had never really registered in his mind.

"You're muggle-born?" asked Annie.

"Yeah, why?" asked Thomas, crossing his arms defensively.

"I – I just didn't know. Lots of people in Slytherin think it's a bad thing, but I'm that person who tells them they need to shut up when it gets too bad. But then there's Jean… Half the time he says muggle-borns should all die, the next he's… Never mind," Annie glanced over at Mikasa.

"What?" asked Mikasa.

"Jean likes you."

"What?!" Eren was horrified. Jean wasn't going out with his sister. It wasn't going to happen. The end.

"He draws pictures of her when he isn't going to class or doing homework. To be honest, he's probably trying to see through the blinds into our compartment," Annie looked like she had gotten past her initial awkwardness about this topic; by now she was thoroughly enjoying telling them all about it.

"Why didn't you tell us about it sooner?" demanded Mikasa.

"He told me not to tell anyone when I caught him writing love poetry to Mikasa-Senpai."

"Mikasa-Senpai?" laughed Eren. "That's actually kind of funny."

"If you think about it, it's not," pointed out Bertholdt. "Mikasa's so much better than anyone else at pretty much everything. Think about it, she's top-of-the-class; she was invited to join the quidditch team last year even though she was still a first-year… Honestly the only time anyone ever got a better test score than her last year was Armin in History of Magic."

"I'm not that good," said Mikasa. "I just want to keep Eren safe."

"What?! I don't need anyone keeping me safe!" Eren jerked his head out to see Mikasa around Thomas and Armin, bumping it on the door in the process. "Ow!"

Everyone looked at him like they felt sorry for him, and wanted to help him, but he didn't need any help.

"Eren, are you OK?" asked Mikasa.

"Yeah," said Eren as he rubbed the back of his head. "Trolley should be here soon."


	14. Quidditch Tryouts

At the banquet, five new Gryffindors joined their table; two boys and three girls. They found empty seats at the table and quietly looked down at their empty plates.

Professor Smith stood up and gave a similar speech to last year; this time Eren paid more attention to the part about quidditch. Trials were next week. Maybe if he made the team, he could show Mikasa that he didn't need protection.

The first week of class was pretty much just a review of everything they had learned last year. As Professor Elric pointed out in transfiguration, they needed to make sure they knew the basics before they moved on to anything harder.

After a week of reviewing the Laws of Equivalent Exchange, the uprising of Elfric the Eager, and the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane (they were the same), they finally started learning new material.

For quidditch, it seemed like everyone was trying out for the team; Bertholdt hadn't wanted to at first, but Reiner and Annie convinced him to, and, in the end, he decided to.

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin had gone out to try out their brooms earlier that week, and they felt fairly comfortable with them. Mikasa wanted to be a seeker, but she knew the Gryffindor team already had one, so she was trying out for chaser, Armin a keeper, and Eren a beater.

At Gryffindor tryouts, Eren, Mikasa, Reiner, Thomas, and Krista met up with several older students and most of last year's team (some of them had graduated).

"All right brats, you're here today so I can tell who here has the balls to play glorified dodge ball 100 feet in the air, and who just wants to look cool in front of their friends, and finally, who can play," said Levi Ackerman, the quidditch captain. Eren knew from Petra that Levi liked to insult his players, but when it came down to it, he cared about them more than they thought. He was a seventh-year, and a seeker. He was quick and agile in the air, although on the ground people talked about how short he was behind his back. According to Petra, when Levi was in the fourth year, and she was in the third, someone told him he was short to his face and walked away talking in R-rated, rhyming sentences for a week because nobody knew how to fix it.

"If you're trying out for chaser, go over there," Levi pointed to the left. "Keepers over there," he pointed to the right.

Mikasa, Krista, and Petra, along with a few others Eren didn't know very well, stepped over to the left. A few others, Eren didn't know any of them very well, stepped over to the right. The hopeful keepers guarded the goalposts as the hopeful chasers tried to score goals. Mikasa managed to get a few goals past last year's keeper, Gunther Schultz. In the end, Mikasa, Petra, and Ilse Langnar were chasers, and Gunther Schultz was the keeper.

Eren, Reiner, and Thomas stepped up next to be beaters along with several older students. They lined up, and in pairs passed a bludger back and forth several times in the air before hitting it to a target Levi levitated into the quidditch pitch for that very purpose.

Eren and Reiner were partnered and set up to try out last. Reiner got the bludger first; he swung his bat and hit it to Eren. Eren hit the bludger back to Reiner. Reiner hit it back, a shot that should have been easy for Eren to hit back, but somehow his timing was off. The bludger flew past him and turned around only to hit him in the stomach. Eren doubled over, dropping his bat from the pain. He slipped to be hanging upside-down from his broom, and clung on for dear life, making his bruised intestines hurt more. He managed to pull himself together enough to return to the ground.

Levi let Reiner try again with the person who had already made the team as a beater – Isabel Magnolia.

Eren was rushed to the hospital wing by Petra and Mikasa to be checked for broken ribs and internal damage.

"Are you sure you haven't been hurt recently?" asked the nurse. "The damage seems to be at least a week old."

"N-no," said Eren.

"He's telling the truth," said Mikasa. "Even Jean hasn't been bugging him that much in the past week."

"A bludger hit me in the stomach five minutes ago. That's it."

"Does it still hurt?" asked the nurse.

"Not really. It's a little sore, but to be honest, it feels like I did a lot of sit-ups or something."

"If that's the case, I'd recommend getting a lot of rest and not stressing that part of your body for the next few days."

"That's it?" wondered Eren. "OK. I can do that."

When they got back to the common room, quidditch tryout results were posted. Eren craned his neck to see over the shoulders of taller students. After a little shoving (Mikasa told him not to because of the bludger that hit him, but he didn't listen), he got to a spot where he could see.

Captain/seeker – Levi Ackerman

Keeper – Gunther Schultz

Beaters – Isabel Magnolia and Reiner Braun

Chasers – Petra Ral, Mikasa Ackerman, and Ilse Langnar


	15. The First Victim

With Mikasa and Reiner practicing three times a week, Eren found himself spending more and more time with Armin. They would go to the library and do homework until they finished, at which point they would look for books on the strangest topics they could find. Eren's personal favorite was one called Vile Creatures about various monsters of the wizarding world and ways to kill them. Armin would stop him from reading the chapter about giants whenever he could.

It was Armin's birthday, November 3rd, and Eren and Armin were looking for books to read. Armin had found one about the underwater city of Atlantis, and Eren was running his hands down the spines of books about monsters.

A crash echoed around the library. Eren's head shot up and turned to look at Armin. Armin was looking back at him, a confused and worried look on his face. He laid his book face-down so he would still have his place, and ran to the door of the library. Eren followed close behind.

The body of a Hufflepuff girl lay on the ground, head bent at an angle that should be impossible. Armin reached down and checked her pulse.

"Her heart's not beating! What do we do?" Armin looked to Eren, eyes wide with fear.

"I don't know! CPR? Do you know a spell for this? Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit…"

"I don't know CPR! Should I try pushing on her chest?"

"Go get help," said Eren.

Armin stood up and wiped his bloodied hands on the front of his robes. Eren hadn't realized there was that much blood. He clasped his hands together and hit the girl on the chest. Blood shot out from her half-open mouth. This probably wasn't a good idea. If she lost too much blood, she would die for certain. She was probably close to the limit now.

About thirty seconds later, Armin ran back with Professor Zacharius. Professor Zacharius bent down and moved his wand over the body, inhaling deeply through his nose. He shot what looked like lightning from his wand tip, causing the girl on the ground to jolt.

"Did you see what happened?" he asked.

"No," said Eren around tears he hadn't realized were running down his face. "We were in the library and heard a noise so we came out to see what it was."

Armin nodded. "How is she?"

"She's paralyzed from the neck down; that's why her heart isn't going. I did a spell that will make her heart beat until she recovers enough for it to beat on its own." He waved his wand, and she floated up behind him. "I'm going to the hospital wing. Why don't you go take showers and then stay in your common room."

Eren and Armin nodded, too paralyzed to do anything else.

I the Gryffindor common room after his shower, Eren began to wonder what had gone on in the corridor outside the library before he and Armin got there.


	16. Gryffindor Versus Slytherin

After the attack, Eren didn't see as much of Armin. Nobody was going off on their own, and even when he tried to leave on his own while Mikasa was at quidditch practice, Thomas and Krista followed him. It seemed Armin couldn't get alone, either. Every student in the school seemed to think it would happen to them, too.

People seemed to think of Eren and Armin as either the culprits or the girl's saviors. Both of them were subject to glares and whispering, as well as girls as old as fifth year giving them their names. If Mikasa was with Eren, she would steer him away from his fangirls, saying "he's only twelve."

Mikasa had won two quidditch matches already; once against Hufflepuff, and once against Ravenclaw. She had another match against Slytherin in a few minutes. Armin sat next to Eren on the Gryffindor side of the pitch, Eren's spare tie around his head. Other Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs sat scattered around both sides of the pitch.

From across the pitch, they could see the Slytherins coming out of the Slytherin locker room. Looking down Eren could see the Gryffindors coming out of their own locker rooms. Eren couldn't make out Reiner or Mikasa because they were so far below, but he cheered with the rest of the Gryffindors none the less. The captains met and shook hands, the Slytherin captain standing next the Levi Ackerman made him look smaller than usual.

The balls were released and the teams were off. Almost immediately, Mikasa was in possession of the quaffle. She passed it to Petra, who scored.

"Gryffindor scores!" called a voice from near the teachers.

Cheers erupted from the Gryffindor side, a few boos on the Slytherin.

A Slytherin picked up the quaffle as it fell from behind the Slytherin goalposts.

"Slytherin in possession – Deliss flying down the pitch like a comet – passes to Eibringer – Eibringer drops the ball after being hit by a bludger sent by Braun from the Gryffindor team. Ackerman – that is, Mikasa Ackerman, there are too many Ackermans – picks it up and, after dodging a bludger, scores!"

Cheers echoed in Eren's ears.

"Slytherin back in possession. Eibringer flying down the pitch – passes to Allen – Allen passes to Deliss, who scores - a near miss by Gryffindor Keeper Schultz. He should have been able to block it – GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME GUNTHER!"

This time the cheers came from the Slytherin side of the pitch. Several boos came from the Gryffindor side.

Next to Eren, Thomas shouted "WHAT TEAM? GRYFFINDOR! WHAT TEAM? GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!" everyone stared at him like he'd gone mad. He looked around, realizing nobody knew what he was talking about, and sunk into his chair, crossing his arms and legs.

Slytherin blocked the next two attempts at goals, but didn't get possession of the quaffle. The snitch was spotted, and then it vanished. Slytherin scored three more times. The snitch was spotted again near the ground in the middle of the pitch.

"Ackerman – that is, Levi Ackerman, the Gryffindor quidditch captain – sees the snitch. He flies after it, like a graceful… Ackerman. Leonhardt sees him and flies after him. But she's' not fast enough. GRYFFINDOR FOR THE WIN!"

Cheers erupted from the Gryffindor side. Eren, Armin, and Thomas jumped up from their seats and hugged each other. They had won.

* * *

_I just looked at my previous chapter about quidditch tryouts and noticed that something went wrong – maybe it was my computer, maybe or maybe just a stupid mistake on my part – but anyway, one of the chapters was published twice instead of the one I meant to post. I changed it, so if you want to read it, it's there._

_Oh, and if you notice anything like that in the future, feel free to send a review to let me know because I'd like to fix it as soon as I can._


	17. The Writing On The Wall

It wasn't until the next morning that Eren heard about the second incident. He had been up late celebrating Gryffindor's victory the night before, and in the morning he felt like a weight was pressing on his brain as he walked to charms after breakfast.

"Something's happened!" called a Ravenclaw running down the corridor. "It's Dennis! He's… He's dead! And there's something on the wall…"

"Come on," Eren dragged Armin and Mikasa behind him to where the Ravenclaw was pointing.

A Gryffindor boy lay on the floor, blood oozing through his robes. On the wall above his twisted body, someone had written: _On this day, humanity received a grim reminder. They lived in fear of what they didn't know, and were ashamed to live with these people they called wizards._

Armin put his arm over his mouth and nose, staring down at the body.

"Eren," said Mikasa, kneeling down next to the body. "He's still alive. He's warm, and his blood is still flowing."

"What?"

"Help me hold the bleeding back."

Eren and Armin leaned over and pushed down on as many wounds they could find.

Soon, other people came in to the corridor. A student pushed his way through the crowd.

"Get back," he ordered Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. It was only then that Eren realized it was Levi.

"Heichou…" said Mikasa. "What can you do?"

Not listening, Levi pointed his wand at the boy on the floor, making his wounds seem to knit themselves back together.

"I need to get by," said Levi to the crowd that had circled around them. People shuffled away from the center of the corridor, forming a narrow path through the throng. Levi levitated the boy over his head, and walked him to the hospital wing. Most of the crowd followed him, watching in awe as their Senpai saved a life.

"Thank you, Mr. Ackerman. Could you take him to the hospital wing and return to your common room?" ordered Professor Elric. "Classes are cancelled for the rest of the day. Please return to your common rooms and stay there until further notice from your head of house."

After much grumbling, the students began to disperse into their assigned parts of the castle. Eren and Mikasa joined the Gryffindors going to their tower, and Armin followed some Ravenclaws to his.

In the common room, rumors were already spreading about what had happened. Some people were saying that Eren and Armin made it happen, while others had made up ridiculous stories about a giant getting into the castle and beating Dennis senseless. Only a few seemed concerned about the writing on the wall.

"What do you think it meant?" Mikasa asked Eren. "I mean the writing on the wall."

"I don't know," Eren replied. "It would be nice to ask Armin, though. He would figure something out."

"Say, if we go out at lunch and dinner, we could see him then."

"That's a good idea, but do you think anyone here figured anything out?"

"Let's ask."

They separated and asked a few students what they thought. Eren asked Reiner first, and he seemed like he thought it was insignificant. He said the killings were more important. Next, Eren asked Petra, who was interested, but didn't know anything.

"I wish I could tell you more, but to be honest, I don't remember exactly what it said. I think it was something about humanity receiving a grim reminder. That sounds kind of ominous. I'll ask some people I know, though."

"Thanks anyway," said Eren before moving on to other people.

He met up with Mikasa again a few minutes later.

"Does anyone have any good ideas?" she asked.

"No, but Petra said she was going to help us look. Maybe as a prefect she'll be able to leave the common room and ask some of the teachers or the ghosts."

"I guess we'll just have to wait until Professor Zacharius comes."

"Anyone up for exploding snap?" asked Thomas from behind Eren. He jumped.

"OK, sure."


	18. Armin's Thoughts

Professor Zacharius had come in during their game of exploding snap and informed them that they would stay in their common room until the whole castle had been searched. They would be served lunch in their common room at noon, and then dinner would depend on whether the teachers and ghosts were done searching the castle. They hadn't found anything yet. Petra asked Professor Zacharius about the writing on the wall, and found out the teachers knew just as much as everyone else.

At noon, Professor Zacharius brought in several plates of sandwiches and some jugs of pumpkin juice. Eren and Mikasa ate their lunch, still anxious to talk to Armin.

At 6 o'clock, Professor Zacharius brought in more sandwiches and pumpkin juice and informed them that they were to stay in their common room until breakfast.

Dejected, Eren ate his dinner in silence, and then went to bed early in hopes that Armin would get an early start as well.

Eren rolled over and opened his eyes in the dark of the curtains around his four-poster bed. He lifted his wrist and turned on the backlight on his watch. Squinting from the glare, after a few seconds he managed to read 4:33 AM from between his eyelashes. Well, this was definitely an early start. He turned the backlight off on his watch. Breakfast didn't start until 6. He flopped his arm down and stared at the canopy of his four-poster. He couldn't see anything but black.

A few minutes later, he pulled out a flashlight and the copy of Vile Creatures that he had checked out of the library last week. He turned the flashlight on under the covers and pulled it out slowly, hoping it wouldn't blind him. It did.

He turned it off and pulled out his wand. "Lumos minimus," he muttered under his breath. A tiny point of light appeared at the end of his wand, just enough for his sensitive eyes to see by. He opened his book to the chapter about giants so he could read it for the hundredth time.

At 6 o'clock, he put the book down (he was at the point where he could nearly recite the chapter about giants from memory) and dressed. He ran a brush through his hair so that it wasn't sticking up as badly, and set out for the Great Hall.

He met Mikasa in the Gryffindor common room; apparently she had had the same idea. Together they walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down.

Barely a minute later, Armin came in, yawned, and sat down across from them at the Ravenclaw table. The three of them where the only people in the room apart from a couple Hufflepuffs eating together at their own table and several ghosts drifting around the room. Armin pulled out a piece of parchment with the words "_On this day, humanity received a grim reminder. They lived in fear of what they didn't know, and were ashamed to live with these people they called wizards.__" _

"At first I thought it was some kind of riddle, but now I think it might be a little too obvious to be a riddle. It looks like whoever did this wants us to know what's going on, but at the same time not know, if that makes any sense," said Armin.

"What is it, if it's not a riddle?" asked Mikasa.

"I don't know. But look at the first bit: "on this day" that could mean a variety of things. It could be that they're telling a story, maybe they mean the second attack, or it could be some sort of metaphor. The second bit, "humanity received a grim reminder" could be the near deaths of two students, or possibly what's going on in the story they're telling. The third bit is what scares me the most. "They lived in fear of what they didn't know" sounds the most ominous because we don't know what any of it means. It could be anything. It could be referencing whoever is behind this, or perhaps just the next part of the story. And finally, there is "and were ashamed to live with these people they called wizards." The last bit could be just about anything; maybe it's the people who did this. Maybe they're telling us they're among us, or maybe they think muggle-borns are less than wizards. Lots of people think that, and I don't think I'm the only one who noticed that both of the victims were muggle-born. Personally, I think whoever is doing this has something against muggle-borns and they think other people feel the same deep down, which isn't true, you know," said Armin, looking to Mikasa at the last bit. "There's a good chance this person is in Slytherin, and they probably know more magic than us, so they're probably older."

"OK," said Eren. "What you're getting at seems plausible. Did anyone else in Ravenclaw have any ideas?"

"I didn't ask. I spent an hour trying to get it word-for-word, and got it mostly there, and then I went up to my bed and tried to figure it out, then Mylius and I did some homework in the afternoon."

* * *

_OK, I hope you're enjoying my story so far. I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be away without wifi for a week, so I won't be able to update until at least next Monday. I'll work on the next chapter in a notebook while I'm away, but I have no idea how much time I'll have. Sorry!_


	19. Giants, Or Not?

Armin had suggested they look for people who were particularly racist towards muggle-borns, especially in Slytherin, but would be a bad idea to judge people on their house alone. Slytherin was on the other side of the Great Hall, all the way across the Hufflepuff table on the other side of Gryffindor. They had agreed that Armin would look for people who looked suspicious at the Ravenclaw table, Eren would check Gryffindor, and Mikasa would look across at Hufflepuff. All three of them knew that they would only see the early risers, but it was worth a shot to start now.

Eren watched as some of the Gryffindors began to trickle in, yawning and mumbling "good morning" to anyone who would listen.

Three of the four Gryffindor first-years sat down at Eren's table and began chattering about some muggle band. Obviously, if they were racist towards muggle-borns they wouldn't even know the band. At least one of them was probably muggle-born. Anyway, Armin had said it was most likely an older student.

Eren turned his attention to some of the older students at his table. Isabel Magnolia was studying her muggle studies textbook. Peter Peterson was reading the Quibbler. Levi Ackerman was sullenly munching on a mouthful of cereal. If anyone looked suspicious, it was him, but the first attack happened during quidditch practice. Unless there was some way he could be in two places at once, it wasn't him. Nobody looked like they hated muggle-borns enough to beat them to the brink of death.

Maybe one of them could ask Annie if there was anyone who acted like they were willing to do something like that to a fellow student. Being in Slytherin herself, she might be able to guess better than Eren, Armin, or Mikasa.

"Armin," said Eren, having a thought. "Wouldn't someone use the cruciatus curse if they wanted to torture someone else? Don't you think it looks more like the people who were attacked were beaten without magic?"

"I... I guess so. I hadn't thought of that. Do you think whoever did this isn't a wizard, then?" answered Armin.

"It's possible, but there aren't any muggles here, and how would an animal or something get in? It could also be a wizard trying to make it look like it was an animal or something," Mikasa jumped in.

"No, I don't think it looks like a wizard trying to make it look like an animal. If that's what they wanted, they wouldn't have written on the wall," said Armin.

"That's what giants do, you know," said Eren. "If something comes too close to their home, they beat it against a rock or something until they aren't moving anymore. But giants usually eat people if they can get them. If it were giants, we would be noticing missing people, not finding bloody, near-dead survivors."

"I don't think giants are smart enough to hold grudges, either," added Mikasa.

"It's almost as if whoever is doing this is both human and giant…" mused Armin. "I don't know. Let's keep our eyes open. Maybe we'll notice something."


	20. Gryffindor Versus Ravenclaw

It was mid-February and probably the coldest day of the year so far. Nevertheless, nearly the entire school was seated around the quidditch pitch to watch Ravenclaw play Gryffindor. Armin was dressed in an assortment of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw apparel; he wore a blue hat on his head and Mikasa's Gryffindor scarf around his neck (ever since last Christmas she'd preferred to wear the one Eren had given her). Even though Ravenclaw was on the other side of the pitch he sat on the Gryffindor side with Eren, Krista, and Thomas to cheer on Mikasa and Reiner. Soon, Jean and Marco joined them, quickly followed by Annie and Bertholdt.

The players strode onto the field, their figures obscured by the swirling snow. Over the wind, Eren heard the faint sound of a whistle blast. The players took off. If the weather got much worse, they would have to cancel the game. Someone – presumably Ravenclaw – scored in the Gryffindor goal posts. Armin clapped his gloved hands and cheered. Some people in the Gryffindor section gave him a funny look, but everyone was too cold to do anything about it. Eren's toes were going numb. He could feel Armin shivering next to him. He hoped Mikasa would find the snitch soon so Gryffindor would win quickly.

If possible, it got colder. Wind swirled the tiny snowflakes around, making them feel like knives on the exposed part of Eren's face. He pulled his scarf up as high as it would go. He couldn't see what was going on. The minutes dragged by. He wasn't sure if he'd rather be playing or shivering in the stands.

Armin muttered a few words and waved his wand, making a small, blue flame appear in front of him. A gust of wind blew it out.

Through the haze of snow, Eren thought he saw a figure go into a spectacular dive. Was it Mikasa? Was he imagining things? But the whole crowd was cheering, both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Someone must have spotted the snitch. Maybe he would make it inside before his hands started supporting Ravenclaw by turning blue. A second figure dove after the first and suddenly the two were racing. Neck-in-neck, they simultaneously reached their hands out to reach something only they could see. They slowed to a stop, one of them with one hand up; a celebration of victory. Eren strained his eyes, hoping it was Mikasa, but all he could make out was a grey figure.

"Which team won?" asked Marco, from behind him, squinting.

Just about everyone around him either shrugged or said "I dunno."

Dark figures ran into the locker rooms as students and teachers alike rushed to the castle.

They separated to their common rooms and raced for showers and places close to the fire. Eren joined the queue waiting for the showers – luckily for Mikasa she got to use the ones in the locker rooms. After a while, it was his turn. He turned up the heat and closed his eyes as the hot water exiled all the cold from his body. He washed up and toweled off, leaving the shower open for the next person in line.

As he re-entered the common room with fresh clothes on, Isabel Magnolia came barreling in, sweater half-on, hair unbrushed.

"It's Mikasa! She's… she's… been attacked!"

Mikasa? Attacked? Mikasa wasn't the kind of girl who needed recuing, but here she was, close to death.

"Where is she?" Eren pushed his way to the front of the crowd, all thoughts of quidditch forgotten.

"Levi's taking her to the hospital wing like he did with Dennis. We should be able to go see her."

Eren, Thomas, and Krista followed her out of the common room to the hospital wing.

On the way, they ran into Professor Zacharius.

"What are you doing outside your common room?" he asked.

The four of them looked at each other. "We were supposed to stay there?" asked Isabel.

"Yes. I was just on my way over to tell you."

"Oh. We were on our way to see Mikasa," said Krista.

"You probably don't want to see her like this. Wait until she's patched up a bit, then you can visit during the day between classes."

"She's my sister," pleaded Eren.

"Sorry," Professor Zacharius said, shooing them back to their common room. "No exceptions."


	21. Herbology

Eren tried visiting Mikasa again in the morning, this time with Armin and the Gryffindor quidditch team. The door to the hospital wing was locked, and when Armin tried the alohomora spell, the nurse came over to tell them that visitors were not permitted.

"I'm just here to see my sister," Eren tried.

"You will see her as soon as she is better."

"Why aren't visitors permitted?" asked Armin.

"Professor Smith has decided that it would be safer for both the injured and their friends if they aren't seen in this condition."

"When will she be better?" asked Petra.

"I can't say; even the first victim is still in a coma, without magic, there would be almost no chance of recovery. We're working on brewing a potion that will wake them up, but it won't be ready for months due to the fact that it is far above Ordinary Wizarding Level."

"Can I just have a minute with Mikasa? I'm her brother," Eren tried again.

"I'm sorry. I can't do that. Now I recommend you go to class so I can tend to my patients."

"Sorry," said Armin, backing away.

"What?! We're leaving? Just like that - ?" Eren choked out as Armin and Ilse dragged him backwards.

"If we interfere, it could make it worse for her," said Levi.

"What? You're seriously going to buy that?" demanded Eren.

"I'm with Eren. We should be able to see her," put in Reiner.

Eren looked over at him, grateful that someone agreed with him.

"Levi's right. We should let her recover so she'll be back to her usual self as soon as possible," said Armin.

"But – " Eren started.

"We have class," said Armin. "Let's go."

Eren and Reiner reluctantly followed him to the greenhouses for herbology, exchanging disappointed glances the whole time.

"Now, yew can be used in many different potions, most notably the Comancious Potion, used for reversing severe brain damage that causes comas. Today, we are raising yew until they produce berries. Normally, the berries are poisonous, but when brewed properly, this is the only potion that will not kill the drinker. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to eat the berries," said Professor Katja Hoffmann, passing out a few pots with what looked like sticks inside them. "We're going to divide into groups of five and take care of your bush for the rest of term."

Eren quickly latched onto Armin and Reiner; and they were soon joined by Thomas and Mylius.

They watered their plant, and put it in an empty spot in the greenhouse.

"I think I know a spell to make it grow faster," said Mylius.

"Cool, try it!" said Armin.

Mylius said a few words, and waved his wand in the direction of their yew. Nothing happened.

"Maybe it doesn't work," he said, dejected.

"Maybe it's faster, but it's still too slow to notice right now," suggested Thomas.

"That's a good possibility," said Armin. "It probably did work, we just can't tell now."

"Maybe," said Mylius, unconvinced.

Maybe Eren couldn't go to see Mikasa, but one thing he could do was make sure the potion could be brewed as soon as possible.


	22. Easter

It was around the Easter Holidays, and there hadn't been any more attacks. Maybe whoever or whatever was behind this knew someone was onto them, maybe they just hadn't gotten the chance. All students were escorted between classes, and had to walk with their houses to meals. While not eating or in class, they had to stay in their common rooms. Quidditch had been canceled until further notice.

Armin was back to the theory that it was a student – probably an unregistered animagus, and therefore an older student. At first Eren had suspected Jean, but Armin had convinced him that Jean couldn't be the one for several reasons: firstly, he spent so much time with Marco, a muggle-born, that the two of them were rumored to be dating. Secondly, he obviously didn't know enough magic to make himself an animagus, or to do something that brutal to someone. Then there was always the fact that if it had been Jean, he wouldn't have been able to keep anything a secret this long. He would have bragged about it by now.

Mylius' spell had seemed to work on their yew. It was noticeably larger than the other yews, and it even had little, hard berries starting to grow. Unfortunately, as they had found out three weeks after Mylius tried the spell, the berries had to be picked under the full moon and fermented until the next full moon underground. With Mylius' spell, their yew would be ready around the waning crescent. Because of this, they had been separated and sent to help other groups. Of course Eren was in Jean's group, along with Marco, Krista, Ymir, and Marlow Sand.

Eren and Armin were in the entrance hall, along with the few other students who had decided to stay, waiting for their classmates to come back after the holidays. Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Krista, and Ymir stood next to them, hoping to see Sasha, Connie, and Marco soon. Jean was probably on some of their lists, too, but as far as Eren was concerned, nobody liked him.

As Sasha, Connie, Marco, and Jean got off the train, the air was thick with pent up anticipation.

"Is Mikasa awake?" asked Connie, not bothering to give any other form of hello.

Everyone shook their heads.

"They've only just picked the berries yesterday," said Armin.

"Oh," said Marco, disappointed for his friends.

Eren half-expected Jean to say something racist towards muggle-borns, but he didn't. Maybe Marco was a good influence on him after all.

Reiner came running into the entrance hall, out of breath and with blood on his hands. Eren hadn't even noticed him gone.

"It – it's one of the first years! She's… she's outside the bathroom…On the ground…" his eyes were wide and glassy, and his body was shaking like he was terrified.

Professor Zacharius left his station making sure everyone got off the train to follow Reiner down the hall. Eren and Armin exchanged a glance and ran after them.

On the floor across from the first-floor boys' bathroom lay a girl, blood streaming down her face from her hairline. The skin that wasn't covered in blood was deathly pale.

"Braun, bring Jaeger and Arlert back to the entrance hall while I bring her up to the hospital wing," said professor Zacharius without turning around.

Reiner turned around.

"We need to go back. Professor Zacharius has the situation under control," Reiner pushed Eren and Armin down the hall. Eren craned his neck around to get a last look at what was going on, but Professor Zacharius had rounded a corner.


	23. RAB

After the last incident, security was heightened even further. Eren couldn't even go to the bathroom without an entourage of Gryffindors keeping him safe. The only contact he had with Armin was meals, which were loud from everyone eating at the same time. All the same, Armin passed a note into his bag at lunch.

_Eren – _

_Meet me around the corner of the hospital wing at 1:45 tonight. Come alone. Let's go see Mikasa. I think I might know what's going on._

_See you then_

_Armin_

Eren read the note and shoved it into his pocket quickly so nobody would see it. He glanced over his shoulder at Armin, and nodded. They would meet that night.

By 1:00, most of his house was in bed. Eren sat next to Reiner by the fire with the intention of doing his charms homework that had eventually turned into reading the chapter about giants in _Vile Creatures_ again. He put the book down and looked up.

"I'm going to put this away, then go to bed," said Eren.

"'K," said Reiner. I've almost got this spell. He had been practicing a spell that would make his pencil bend in half. Supposedly they needed it for their final exams.

Eren picked up his book and parchment and shoved them in his bag.

"Coming?" he asked.

"Just a sec," Reiner picked up his stubbornly straight pencil and walked alongside Eren to their dormitory.

Both of them fell into bed without a word.

Barely a minute later Eren checked his watch. 1:15. This was going to be a long half-hour.

At 1:30 he decided it was close enough, so he crept downstairs into the empty common room. Even the portraits on the walls were asleep. He tiptoed across the room to the fat lady, who let out an especially loud snore as she swung closed, making Eren freeze.

On the eighth floor, he saw peeves whistling as he loosened the carpets on the stairs. Eren ducked into a hallway and took a detour.

Under a window in the moonlight, lay the silhouette of a cat. Was it Mrs. Norris? Eren didn't want to take any chances, so he doubled back until he found a different staircase. His eyes widened, picking up every shadow, and his ears strained to pick up the smallest noise.

He made it the rest of the way to the hospital wing without seeing anyone else. He checked his watch; 1:42. Armin should be there in three minutes. He slid down the wall to sit down on the floor.

Two minutes to go. The cold from the floor was seeping into his warm pajamas.

One minute to go. Was someone coming?

Thirty seconds. Please don't let the nurse be up.

Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one. Where was Armin? Eren stood up, rubbing the cold from his back and legs. He looked around. No Armin.

"Armin?" he whispered. No answer.

Running footsteps in the hall. Had someone heard him?

Armin barreled around the corner, panting. He doubled over, hands on his knees.

"Filch…almost…caught…me…" he gasped out as an explanation.

"No problem," Eren lied. He had been on the verge of searching the castle for his friend. "What's the plan?"

"We're going to both use alohomora on the door to double the potency of the spell. Last time, when I tried it, it didn't open because it was blocked last time I tried it," explained Armin. "Then we'll go in and see Mikasa. After that I can tell you what I think is going on."

"OK. Let's try the lock."

They walked up to the door and cast the spell. The lock jiggled, but didn't open.

"Shit. If only Mikasa were here; she probably has more talent than both of us combined," said Eren.

"If Mikasa were here, we wouldn't be trying to get in here in the first place," Armin pointed out.

"Is there another way to open the door?" asked Eren.

"Well, we could always kick the door down, and probably wake up the nurse and alert everyone nearby that we're here. We would probably get caught, dragged away before we even got to see Mikasa, and then put in detention. Another option is to pick the lock. Do you have a paperclip or something?"

"I don't think so…" Eren rummaged around in his bathrobe pockets. His hand landed on a hair clip that Mikasa had probably told him to hold at one point and then both of them forgot about the whole thing. "Would this work?"

"That's perfect. Where did you get it?" Armin lifted it and inspected it as best he could in the dark.

"Mikasa asked me to hold it for her at some point I think. Maybe something about girls' clothes not having pockets…"

Armin fit the clip into the lock and moved it around. The locked clicked. He tried the door. It opened.

Once they were inside the hospital wing, they easily found Mikasa lying on a bed under the blankets. Her pale arms lay on top of the covers, uncharacteristically weak and still. Her hair was splayed across the pillow like she was underwater. A feeding tube extended from her mouth, slowly pumping a brown liquid inside her.

Eren and Armin pulled up chairs on either side of her.

"Lumos," whispered Armin.

Light spread from his wand to Mikasa's bed.

"Mikasa… If you can hear me… They're almost done making the potion that will make you better. It's fermenting now. It'll – it'll be ready in a few weeks. Just hang in there, OK?" Armin's eyes were shining, but Eren wasn't sure if it was just the lighting until he saw a single tear slide down his face.

"Mikasa… I'm sorry this is the first time I've come to visit, but this was the first time I made it in. Nobody would let us in, so Armin and I picked the lock. It's the middle of the night now, so even though everyone is asleep, we might need to leave at any minute. Just… Just remember that I love you. You're the best sister I could ever have," Eren had entwined his fingers into Mikasa's, bowing his head so Armin wouldn't see him crying. Large scars were imbedded in Mikasa's forearm that hadn't been there before she was attacked. Eren turned over her arm to look, fearing the worst. He lifted her arm to the light to see the raised, pinkish scars on her skin. But these scars weren't just random, deep scratches. These scars formed letters. Three letters like initials. R.A.B.

"Who's R.A.B.?" asked Eren.

"I don't know. What's Reiner's middle name? He's R.B., at least."

"Fritjof. Reiner isn't R.A.B."

"It looks like initials, so I'm thinking either they've started signing their victims, which isn't very smart if they don't want to get caught, or Mikasa knew she would end up like this, so she's trying to give us a message. My theory is that she knows the person who attacked her, and she carved their initials into her arm to tell us who it was."

"I think someone's coming," whispered Eren.

They shoved their chairs back, causing more noise than they had intended. Lights came on. Eren blinked and squinted.

"What are you doing in here?" It was the nurse. "Not only are you in the hospital wing, which is temporarily off-limits to students, but you are up at night. Fifty points from whatever houses you're in. Now BED."

"FIFTY?!" Eren was incredulous. Gryffindor was going to kill him for this.

"Fifty points each."

"But, you see, we wanted to see our friend. We haven't seen her since February… And look," Armin showed her Mikasa's arm. "We think these initials belong to whoever did this to her."

"Believe me, we're trying everything we can to figure out who is behind this," said the nurse.

"We can help," tried Eren.

"We've gone through all our records and there isn't a single student or staff whose initials are R.A.B. Trust me, we've already tried that one. I'll walk you to your common room. Which house are you in?"

They told her. She escorted them first to Ravenclaw and then to Gryffindor.

"Now get some sleep. You have classes in the morning," she said as she left Eren by the portrait of the fat lady. "Good night."


	24. Lunch

At breakfast, Eren looked over at Armin, who was almost falling asleep into his oatmeal. Eren's own eyes felt dry and heavy, and so did the rest of his body. It hadn't been long after they got up that people noticed that there were considerably fewer gems in both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw hourglasses. Not long after that, a rumor spread around the school that it was because Eren Jaeger and Armin Arlert had broken into the hospital wing last night. Reiner and Thomas were the only ones talking to Eren in his house, and Mylius was the only one talking to Armin in Ravenclaw. The Slytherins seemed especially happy about this whole thing; Jean had even called "Thanks, Jaeger!" as Eren walked by the Slytherin table in the great hall. But Eren felt too tired to care. Maybe he would care tomorrow, but today he just wanted to find out who had attacked Mikasa, kill them, and go to sleep.

"What were you going to tell me after we left the hospital wing last night?" Eren leaned back in his seat to talk to Armin.

"Later," said Armin, looking at all the people around them.

"When?"

"We'll go to the bathroom together after History of Magic."

History of Magic was right before lunch. As planned, Eren and Armin broke off from the stream of second-years walking to the great hall and ducked into the boys' bathroom.

"Who do you think it was?" asked Eren, once they'd made sure they were alone.

"My theory is that someone let a somewhat small giant into the castle to kill muggle-borns. They would have to use a pretty powerful imperious curse to control something that size; therefore, they must be a powerful dark wizard. I wouldn't doubt that they're an older Slytherin. Remember when we asked Annie and Jean to look for anyone who could be responsible earlier in the year? Well, Annie came over to me recently and gave me a list of all the racist sixth- and seventh-years. Judging from the letters on Mikasa's arm, I think it's probably Ralph Brown. He's a seventh-year, and from what I can see his initials match. The only doubt I have is how would Mikasa have known his middle initial?"

"OK. We'll definitely need to watch him. We could ask Annie to keep an eye on him."

"I'm going to do that at lunch. I'll ask Jean, you ask Annie."

"All right. Let's go."

Armin walked down the expanse of the Slytherin table to where Jean was sitting telling a couple first-years how he could fly really well, and the only reason he wasn't on the quidditch team was because he was too good.

"Jean, could you keep an eye on Ralph Brown for me? It's so we can catch whoever attacked Mikasa."

Jean looked skeptical at first, but when Mikasa's name was mentioned, he nodded and turned back to his conversation, every now and then glancing over at Ralph.

Eren found Annie eating alone. Nobody talked to her, and she talked to no one.

"Annie," said Eren. She looked up. "Can you keep an eye on Ralph Brown? Armin thinks it might be him."

"Of course, but make sure you keep your voice down, especially over here. He does have friends, you know," she tucked her bangs behind her ear like she did when she was really paying attention.

"Thanks," said Eren, as he walked across the hall to his own table.

The only seat left at the Gryffindor table was one on the side closest to Hufflepuff. He served himself some shepard's pie and dug in.

He had barely finished chewing the first bite when Petra called "where's Krista?"

Eren stood up with the rest of the table, calling "Krista? Krista?! Where is she?"

Soon the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws stood up too. Over the commotion, everyone heard a high-pitched shriek.


	25. Snatchers!

"Krista?!" Ymir's voice echoed across the Great Hall in the silence following the scream. She knocked over her chair in a scramble to the doors to the rest of the castle. Eren, Armin, and several others ran after her.

"Everyone please calm down! Professor Zacharius will take control of the situation and – " said Professor Smith. Before he finished, Eren was out of earshot.

"Which way did they go?" Eren asked Armin.

"I'm not sure… Wait. Are these muddy boot prints?"

"That's what they look like. Where do they go?"

They followed the tracks into the entrance hall and down the steps to the dirt path.

"I don't see them, so they probably went into the forest," said Armin.

"Should we split up?" asked Eren.

"No. That's not a good idea. Do you have your wand?"

"Yeah. You?"

Armin pulled his 10-inch reed wand out of his robes to show Eren.

"Good. Let's go."

They ran to the tree line and slowed down. They would have to be a little more cautious now that they had passed the tree line.

"Any idea where they went from here?" whispered Eren in the darkness.

"No. Your guess is as good as mine," Armin breathed back.

They walked forward until they reached a path. They followed the path deeper into the woods until they heard the soft crunching of horses on dry leaves.

Eren stopped in his tracks. Armin grabbed his arm. They looked at each other as if to say _it's them! Be quiet so they don't see us. We're going to sneak up behind and take her back._ They nodded at each other and readied their wands.

They ran as quietly as they could down the path until they saw a large covered wagon pulled by a tall, black horse. They nodded to each other as a signal to go, and sprinted to the back of the wagon. When Eren tore open the fabric covering the wagon, he saw Krista, tied up and gagged. He climbed into the wagon to get her.

"Eren…" Armin started, too late.

A hand reached out from next to Krista and lifted the man's disillusionment charm. He held his wand up to Krista's temple and said "don't come any closer or she dies."

Eren stood up in the wagon bed, hands level with his head, wand in clear sight.

"Eren! Get out of there!" called Armin from the trail behind them.

"I need to rescue Krista!" Eren called back.

Krista's kidnapper turned his wand so it was pointed at Eren. At the same time, she turned and bumped her hip into his groin as hard as she could. He bent over in pain, still managing to point his wand at Eren. Krista widened her eyes as if to say _go._

Eren jumped out the back of the wagon and rolled on the leaf-covered path. He ran back to Armin. They needed a better plan.


	26. The Rescue

Eren and Armin watched as the wagon drove out of sight down the path.

"I have an idea," said Armin.

"What is it?" asked Eren.

"We'll break the wheels on the wagon, then we'll take out the driver and the guy who was guarding Krista, then the three of us run away."

"OK. That sounds simple enough. Defindo for the wheels, but what spell should we use on the snatchers?"

"I'd recommend expelliarmus, because they probably know more magic than us, but it's up to you."

"Each of us will be on one side of the wagon, because that will make it easier to get both wheels," said Armin, as Eren tried to follow him into the woods on the left side of the trail. Eren ran over to the right.

Eren kept himself level with Armin by the sun glinting off his blond hair. Once they were level with the wagon, Eren pointed his wand and whispered "_defindo!"_

One of the spokes snapped, putting the wagon on an angle. Armin whispered his spell as well, and the wagon was all the way on the ground. Keeping their wands out, Eren and Armin cautiously approached the crippled wagon. The driver came out and circled around to Eren's side of the path.

"_Expelliarmus!"_ yelled Eren, pointing his wand at the driver.

"Pretego," said the driver without emotion, as Eren's spell rebounded off the driver's shield charm and hit him full in the face. Eren's wand flew out of his hand as he was knocked backwards. As he got up, massaging a swollen lip, Armin stood locked in a stalemate with Krista's guard. The latter had his wand pressed against Krista's temple, just as he had when Eren was in the wagon. Armin's eyes flicked up to the trees. He smiled a little. Eren, confused, looked up there too. He saw nothing.

It was then that he noticed a logo with the letters R. A. B. on side of the wagon. It hadn't been a student after all, it had been the snatchers! But why would they attack students when they could just kidnap them?

Before Eren knew what was happening, two people dropped out of the trees. Annie and Ymir disarmed the driver, and pointed their wands at the man holding Krista.

"Let her go," said Ymir.

Eren scrambled to get his own wand, and pointed it at the man holding Krista, too.

The man looked around him, and, seeing he was surrounded, dropped Krista and his wand and put his hands up.

"Don't hurt me!" he pleaded.

Ymir ran over and untied Krista's bonds. She was shaking and her breathing was fast, erratic. She put her arms around Ymir's neck and hugged her. Ymir hugged her back, petting her hair and murmuring "it'll be OK, sweetie."

Annie muttered a spell that made Krista's bonds tie themselves around the driver and the guard.

Ymir carried Krista down the path. Eren, Armin, and Annie followed close behind.


	27. The End of the Year

After they had gotten Krista back from the snatchers, they met Professor Zacharius on the path sniffing for snatchers.

"You shouldn't have come," he said, even though they had been the ones to rescue Krista.

"We thought you – " Armin started. Professor Zacharius cut him off.

"You shouldn't have come after her."

"I'm fine; they rescued me. Nobody got hurt," Krista lifted her head from Ymir's shoulder.

"You were lucky. I'll need to report you to Professor Smith, and he'll decide what to do with you."

They were escorted back to the castle where Krista was put in the hospital wing to be checked for injuries, and Eren, Armin, Annie, and Ymir were taken to a life-size statue of a griffin in front of a bare section of wall.

"Captain America," said Professor Zacharius. At first, Eren thought he had gone mad, but when the griffin spiraled upwards, revealing a staircase below it, Eren understood. It was the password. Professor Zacharius followed them onto the stairs.

At the top, Armin pushed open a wooden door, and they all stepped through. Professor Smith was sitting at his desk, reading over a scroll. He looked up when they entered the room.

"They went into the forest to rescue Krista Lenz by themselves," said Professor Zacharius.

"Did they succeed?" asked Professor Smith.

"Yes."

"Then I think we should be celebrating their success rather than punishing them. What exactly happened?"

"We were eating lunch when some of the Gryffindors noticed that Krista was gone," Ymir started. "Then we heard the scream."

"I jumped up and met Eren on the way out of the great hall," Armin put in.

"I saw Ymir running after the scream, and nobody else going with her, so I figured it was up to me to help her," Annie added.

"Did you hear my warning?" Professor Smith asked.

"…Yes," said Eren.

"Why did you go?"

"We wanted to save our friend."

"Well, other than the blatant disobedience, all four of you represented your houses quite well."

"I didn't," Armin looked down at his feet, eyes squeezed shut. "My plan failed."

"Yes, but you succeeded in the end."

"I made a plan, and it didn't work."

"If you hadn't stopped the wagon and distracted the snatchers, we wouldn't have been able to come in," Annie pointed out.

"Then you adapted quickly once we took control of the situation," Ymir put in.

Armin still didn't look up.

"Armin," said Professor Smith. "It sounds like your friends think you did a good job and represented a true Ravenclaw out there. The rest of you represented your houses well, too. Simply by going after his friend, Eren represented the loyalty that Gryffindor house stands for. And by taking on two wizards more powerful than they were, Annie and Ymir represented one of the things Slytherins known for – doing whatever it takes to achieve their goals. I'm going to give you each 100 house points for successfully recuing Krista."

Armin looked up at Professor Smith and opened his mouth.

"Armin. You earned those points. It's time for all of you to return to your common rooms with everyone else."

Exactly a week later, the potion was ready. To celebrate, all exams were canceled. Nearly the whole school came to visit everyone who had been unconscious, who were weak, but able to get around a little. As soon as he saw Mikasa, Eren hugged her as tight as he could. Armin, Krista, Marco, Jean, and the entire Gryffindor quidditch team – with the exception of Levi - piled on top. This was the closest Eren had ever been to Jean, and it felt awkward at best.

"Ow," said Mikasa, causing everyone to let go of her and stand back a little. "I'm still a little sore. I should be back to normal in a couple days. What did I miss?"

"Did you hear how I got taken by snatchers?" asked Krista. "Eren, Armin, Annie, and Ymir saved me."

"No! What happened?"

"Well, I was on my way back from the bathroom when someone grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth and nose. At first I thought it was one of the boys messing with me, but then they tied me up and put a gag in my mouth. They put me in a wagon with the letters R.A.B. on the side and took me into the forest."

"R.A.B." said Mikasa, showing them her arm. "I don't remember anything that happened after catching the snitch. When I woke up, I saw it and asked what it was, and the nurse said these letters were carved into my arm when I was taken to the hospital wing."

"I knew something had happened to your arm when I found you – there was blood all over it – but I didn't actually think it would be something that would point to the culprit," said Reiner.

"We came to visit you a couple weeks ago. We had to pick the lock by hand because they had blocked the alohomora spell so students couldn't get in. They didn't want us to see you like that," said Armin.

"Do you remember what I said?" asked Eren, suddenly embarrassed.

"No," said Mikasa. "But you caught whoever did this?"

"Yeah. Annie tied them up and then Professor Zacharius went back for them. I think their trial is today, actually. They'll probably go to Azkaban," said Armin.

"Good. We need fewer people like them in the world."


	28. Third Year

Over the summer, the orphanage had been slightly better than last year. The death of his mother and the disapearance of his father hadn't been as fresh in Eren's mind, and some of the others were slowly warming up to the three of them. People had stopped questioning their spellbooks and quills and parchement when they did homework in the hallways – the other orphans had gotten used to seeing them there.

For their next year at Hogwarts, they got to choose a few electives to add to their usual class schedule. Eren had chosen Care for Magical Creatures, and Divination. Mikasa had chosen the same classes as Eren, and he suspected she only did that so she could be with him. Armin chose Care for Magical Creatures, Anchient Runes, and Arithmancy.

"I've heard Professor Zoe is an enthusiastic teacher," said Armin to kill the silence as they waited to be driven to King's Cross.

"Me, too. Do you know if they're a man or a woman?" asked Mikasa.

"I guess not," said Eren after a minute. "Does it matter?"

"Not really. I was just curious."

"So long as they're a good teacher, I don't care," said Armin.

Eren and Mikasa nodded their agreement.

A car drove into the front of the orphange, driven by one of the people who worked there. Eren, Armin, and Mikasa climbed into the backseat.

At the train station, they stood in front of Platform Nine, waved a goodbye, which really meant "you can leave now." The car drove back to the orphanage.

As soon as none of the muggles were looking, they ran through the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters was as loud and buisy as usual for 11:00 on the morning of September first.

"It's Bertholdt!" called Mikasa, pointing to Bertholdt, who had, if possible, gotten even taller over the summer.

Eren heald on to the back of Armin's trunk to keep with his friends as they pushed themselves through the crowd.

Bertholdt was standing with Reiner and Annie.

"Now that we're all here, we should find a compartment," said Reiner. He lead the way onto the train, helping each of them with their trunks.

They found an empty compartment and shoved their luggage into the racks above their heads and sat down on the benches.

"How was your summer?" asked Reiner.

"Good," said Eren automatically. Then added: "Not a lot happened."

"What about you?" asked Armin.

"Good. Pretty quiet."

They were silent for a while.

"What classes are you adding this year?" Armin's voice shattered the silence.

"Care of Magical Creatures and Antient Runes," said Reiner.

"Arithmancy, Care for Magical Creatures, and Divination," said Annie.

"Same," said Bertholdt.

Eren, Armin, and Mikasa told them their classes. "So we'll all be in Care of Magical Creatures together. I heard Professor Zoe is good, so it's probably a big class."

The door of their compartment slid open.

"Hi!" said Sasha, a huge smile on her face. Connie craned his neck to see over her shoulder.

"Hi," said Eren and Reiner. The others waved.

Sasha nealy skipped into the compartment. It seemed she had already eaten too much sugar.

Ymir and Krista walked down the hall, waved to everyone around Connie and Sasha, and opened the door to the compartment across the hall. A couple first-years squeeked when they saw Ymir's tall form and ran away to find a different compartment.

"Hey guys," said Mikasa as Connie was throwing candy for Sasha to catch in her mouth. "Ymir and Krista are next door if you want to see them."

Connie and Sasha, still smiling like they were insane, crossed the hall and entered the other compartment.

"You look like you're on drugs," they heard Ymir say across the hall.

The door of the other compartment slid shut.


	29. The Feast

The sorting ceremony was just like it was last year – the hat sung a song and the first-years were sorted into houses.

After everyone was sitting at their tables, Professor Smith stood up.

"Welcome everyone to a new year at Hogwarts. I have been instructed to let everyone know that this year, due to the concerns about further attacks or kidnappings after last year, the castle is surrounded by dementors. Dementors are creatures you don't want to meet. They give off the feeling that all happiness is gone from the world and make you remember all of your worst memories. If you feel a feeling of intense cold, it is probably a dementor, and, unless you are at the very edge of the grounds, please come tell a teacher so we can put it back where it belongs. If you are a prefect, do not attempt to approach a dementor. It could be the last thing you know," said Professor Smith. "On that happy note, let's eat!"

Food appeared on plates all around. Eren dug into his plate of potatoes and roast beef, hungry after the long trip up.

"My parents almost didn't let me come back," Thomas mentioned from across the table. "They were worried the attacks would continue."

"Mine were too. They thought it would be a good idea for me to drop out seventh year so I would be safer, but I convinced them that if I finished my education, I'd be better prepared to protect myself. I'm planning to do auror training after I graduate, and my chances of getting to do that without complete NEWTs aren't very good," said Petra.

"You want to be an auror, too?" asked Eren, excited.

"Yeah. I'd always considered it as a possibility, and then last year when Mikasa got attacked… I wanted to prevent things like that from happening again. Also, that's what Levi's doing, so I'd know someone."

"Those are good reasons. I've always looked up to them. Ever since I was little. So you're quidditch captain this year?"

"Yeah, I got the letter last July. To be honest, I expected it to be Isabel after Levi graduated, but don't say that in front of her, or she'll get mad. Trust me, I've been spending enough time with her over the past seven years that I know she would."

Eren nodded. "I won't tell her. When are tryouts?"

"Next week. You can come if you want, I saw you practicing a bit last year before they started watching our every move. Maybe you'll make it in this year."

"I'll make it this year," said Eren as he returned to his potatoes.

_Well, school started, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to update from now on. But I will update when I get the chance to write. The reason I've been updating so much lately is that the pool was closed (I work as a lifeguard) so I didn't have to work. Anyway, I'll update when I can, but it probably won't be more than once a month once the pool re-opens._


	30. Care for Magical Creatures

Their first Care for Magical Creatures class was Monday morning. Most of the third years were taking the class, and they walked down to the edge of the Forest together where they gathered in a circle around Professor Zoe, who was holding a cage of what looked like twigs.

Professor Zoe looked at the class roster. "I think that's everyone."

Heads nodded all around.

"I'm Professor Hanji Zoe, and this is Care for Magical Creatures. Due to the frequency I get this question; I am not a man or a woman, but you can call me she or he, and it wouldn't make a difference to me.

"Today we are going to learn about bowtruckles, and then we'll quickly move on to more interesting creatures. Bowtruckles, as you may remember from your books, is small, and has the appearance of bark and twigs," Professor Zoe held up the cage, which, by squinting, Eren could make out tiny, glinting eyes on some of the twigs.

"They eat small insects, and they live in trees commonly used for wand wood. Wand makers can easily lure them away for long enough to get some wood by putting wood lice off to the side. If you form a line, you may feed the bowtruckles before we release them back into the Forest."

They formed a line, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa towards the middle, and waited for their turns.

Hannah Diamont and Franz Kefka were still holding hands in line, and Hannah continued to hold Franz's hand while she fed the bowtruckle.

"So are they an official couple now?" Eren wondered aloud.

"Haven't they been since just after we started first year?" Armin put in.

"I don't know. I've never really paid attention," said Mikasa.

Soon enough, it was Armin's turn. He picked up a bug with the tweezers provided and passed it to one of the bowtruckles.

"What are we doing next time?" he asked Professor Zoe.

"I was thinking somewhere along the lines of a knarl, as you're still beginners and the Ministry of Magic says I'm not allowed to teach anything that is above a 3X (you know how they rate magical creatures on how dangerous they are?) to third and fourth years."

"OK! Cool, that sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to it!" said Armin as he walked away so Eren could have his turn feeding the bowtruckles.

"Are we going to do giants at all?" asked Eren as he fed a bowtruckle.

"Not until seventh year. The ministry won't let me teach anything above 4X until then, although they are my personal favorites as well," Professor Zoe looked a bit annoyed that the ministry wouldn't let them learn about giants until their last year, but she perked up when she talked about the giants.

"They killed my mother," said Eren.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Professor Zoe. "They've also killed plenty of my friends in this line of work. I work as a field researcher over the summer, and it's quite common to get eaten if you get too close."

Eren looked at his teacher, eyes wide in awe and anticipation. This was what he wanted to do once he was an auror. He would be the auror who hunted and killed giants until there were none left.

"Eren," said Mikasa as she pushed him out of the way. It was her turn, and he was obviously holding up the line; possibly also bothering Professor Zoe.


	31. Divination

Care for Magical Creatures wasn't Eren's only new class. He waited all week before his divination class on Friday afternoon. Divination was supposed to be telling the future – Armin thought most of it was trickery, but even he couldn't deny the fact that there had been solid documentation of real prophecies that had actually come true.

He and Mikasa met Annie and Bertholdt on the way up to a tower they had never really been. Annie looked like she might know where she was going, so she was in front.

She stepped into a circular room at the end of the corridor, and looked around. A silver ladder came out of a trapdoor in the ceiling and hit her on the head. She swore, clutching the crown of her head. A little steam issued out from under her hair.

"Just a little healing charm I learned," said Bertholdt, putting his wand back in his pocket.

They climbed the ladder in silence.

"Good afternoon, students," said the teacher as they walked in the door. The room was full except for a table in the front. "I am Professor Angel Aaltonen, and I teach divination here at Hogwarts."

The students slowly quieted down as they finished their conversations.

"Today, being the first day of class, we will go over the introduction of your textbooks."

It wasn't long before Eren found out divination was really just another history of magic.

Quidditch tryouts were Monday after classes. The third years met Petra on the field with their broomsticks. Other Gryffindors joined them as Petra got more and more nervous.

"Hi, guys, I'm Petra. I'm quidditch captain of the Gryffindors, but you probably already knew that," she cleared her throat. "Some of you played with me last year and some of you are new. I'm already a chaser, so you chasers will have to work extra hard to get one of the two spots left. We'll start by trying out keepers and chasers together." She picked up her broom. "Chasers and keepers, form a line here."

Eren put his hand up. "What if you like all the positions?"

"Try out for all of them," said Petra, shrugging. I have the pitch until five."

Eren joined the line of chasers and keepers.

He quickly found out he was a terrible keeper, but he could score OK. He and a second year named Jenna had an assist in a goal that they let Petra take.

This year, Mikasa didn't try out for chaser. Instead she joined the line of seekers – half of whom had the same haircut as Levi. She was easily the best seeker there. Eren wasn't bad at it, but he definitely wasn't as good as she was.

Next, he tried out for beater after Reiner and Isabel, who already had practice together, so they were best at that, too. This was really the position he had wanted to play, but he had taken Armin's advice to try out for everything to heart. If he made the team, it would have to be as a chaser.

After dinner, Petra posted the results on the bulletin board in the common room. The results were:

Chasers: Petra Ral (Captain), Eren Jaeger, and Jenna McDougal

Keeper: Jake Hardy

Beaters: Reiner Braun, and Isabel Magnolia

Seeker: Mikasa Ackerman

He didn't really know Jake other than the fact that he was a fourth year, and he didn't really know Jenna either. But he had made the team. He was in.

_Finally got some time to work on this. I've been really busy, and I only got the chance because I had a class cancelled unexpectedly. Hopefully I'll find more time soon, but until then, you guys are great!_


End file.
